Sonic Warriors
by Snodin
Summary: It's a race between Sonic and the Babylon Rogues to see who earns the green Sol Emerald... By the way, how obvious is it that I'm on vacation?
1. The Quest Begins: Sonic, Knuckles Intro

**Snodin presents**

**A SEGA/Archie Comics Crossover event**

**...**

**SONIC WARRIORS**

**...**

**Part 1: "The Quest Begins"**

…

"…_Sonic. …Sonic, are you there?"_

"_Who is it?" he called out to the female voice._

"…_Sonic, please. Help me."_

"_Wait! Who are you? Where are you?" He tried to reach out, but there was nothing in front of his eyes but darkness… and an occasional flash of fire._

"_Help me…" The voice was fading away._

"_Wait! Come back! Don't go!" He then suddenly felt utterly alone._

…

"Gah!"

He woke up in a cold sweat that early morning. Again, that strange dream where there was nothing but darkness, and that strangely familiar voice pleading for help. Sonic couldn't help but feel scared by this dream; he had it now for four nights straight, and each night those cries became more and more real.

He scratched his top quill sleepily before letting out a big yawn. This stirred his roommate, Tails, who was curled up on the bunk bed just over Sonic's. From the hedgehog's perspective, he could only see two little fox tails squirming.

"Sonic?" peeped the sleepy kit.

"Yeah, bro?"

"You okay? I thought I heard you scream."

"Oh… I was just having a weird dream." Sonic turned around to curl back to sleep, but his eyes wouldn't have it.

Then Tails lowered his head down to glance at his big brother in an upside-down angle. "…Did you marry Amy in the dream?"

"No! God, no! If I did, I really would have woken up in a scream."

Tails giggled. "Well, at least you're okay."

"Of course I'm okay. Why would you think I wasn't?"

"Well, you haven't gotten a lot of sleep lately. Maybe you should take it easy today."

Sonic sat up in his bed. "We were supposed to go to Carnival Night Zone later; it's Knuckles' birthday."

"Yeah, but you don't have to go if you're not feeling well."

"I'm going, dude. Knuckles would kill me if I didn't. Besides, I can't wait to show him the present I bought."

"Oo! What'd ya get?"

"Not telling," winked Sonic slyly.

"Aww! You can tell me, can't you?"

"No, it's gonna be a super-sweet surprise for everybody. Even you."

"Really? Oh man, I can't–_ Wah_!" Tails got so excited by this new prospect, that he leaned too far out and fell out of bed. "_Oof_… I'm okay," he uttered weakly from the floor.

"Sure you are."

…

That next morning, on the small secluded island off of Green Hill Zone which Sonic and Tails called home, Tails was busy prepping his beloved red biplane, the Tornado, for takeoff. There were only two seats to the plane, and one was reserved for another one of Knuckles' birthday guests… a guest whom Sonic was glad not to have to sit next to durig the flight.

That guest, of course, was Amy Rose the Hedgehog. She was quite the character; youthful, uppity, and as sugar-coated as her bubblegum-pink fur. But that's not what Sonic disliked about her; what he disliked was-

"SONIKUU!"

…Her extreme obsession for him.

The blue boy's quills bristled and his ears pulled back at the sound of Amy's pet name for him upon her arrival. He then faked a big smile; "Amy! Glad you can make it."

That's when both Sonic and Tails realized that Amy was carrying a great big backpack full of treats and presents on her back. "Hey, guys! Thanks for letting me hitch a ride on the Tornado; all other flights to Angel Island were booked solid."

"Ohmigosh, Amy!" Tails palmed his face upon gazing at her luggage. "What is all that?"

"These are Knuckles' gifts," she replied sweetly. "I couldn't decide whether to give him the skateboard, or the boxing gloves, or the volley ball, or the suede suit I got with a discount, or the cufflinks, or the tickets to Splash Hill Zone, or the overalls- he'd look so cute in denim!- or a brand new cowboy hat I custom made myself…. So I got it all!"

Sonic tried so hard not to laugh at her silliness. "Wow… He's a lucky guy. One question though: How is all this gonna fit in the Tornado?"

Amy's sugary smile suddenly went sour. "….Oh… Oops, I totally did not factor that in."

"Don't worry Amy," assured Tails, "we can pack this stuff into the Cyclone and I'll hook it up behind the Tornado."

"Isn't that dangerous?" she blinked.

"Nah, I can pilot both planes through a radio transmitter."

"Wow, Tails, you really come up with everything!"

"Well, when you live with someone as scatterbrained as Sonic, you have to be!"

Sonic gave him a small scowl before anyone noticed. "…Aaanyway," he hummed, "I'll carry that stuff, Amy, and you have a seat right in the back."

"Thanks, Sonic, you're such a gentleman." She effortlessly unhooked her backpack and threw it over her would-be boyfriend's shoulder, and watched him fall like a rock under its weight.

For the life of him, Sonic would never know- or even want to know- how this small girl was so strong.

…

As promised, Tails had hooked his blue, self-piloted quad-plane the Cyclone behind the Tornado, which he himself was flying. Sonic stood proudly on the wings of the red biplane, letting the wind whip his quills to and fro on the way to the mystical floating island.

During the flight, Amy and Tails engaged in small chit-chat:

"So Tails, what did you get Knuckles for his birthday?"

"A radio watch, so whenever he needs to call us we're just one button away."

"Did you make it yourself?"

"Nah… Well I _did_ customize it a little," blushed the fox. "But I bought it at a store in Metropolis Zone."

"You traded Rings for it? That sounds pricy."

"Nah, it was only worth forty Rings. Like I said, I got a weaker model and then I tweaked it a bit."

"Ah… Well, what did Sonic get him?"

"He's not telling, he wants it to be a surprise."

"Ah, that's just like him… Hey, Sonic! Are you okay up there?"

The blue hedgehog kept facing forward and smiled, "I'm fine, this wind is great! I almost feel like a bird up here!"

Suddenly, the wind picked up rather abruptly, causing the Tornado to slam head first into turbulence. Everyone gasped and shrieked, but only Sonic was in danger. Luckily for him, he managed to keep his balance on the wing by flapping his arms.

"Heh, now you really do look like a bird," joked Tails.

As much as Sonic wanted to join in on the joke, he had suddenly felt a spine-chilling feeling, as though the wind had dropped its temperature to freezing levels. "Brr," he shivered softly.

"…Sonic? Are you alright?" blinked Tails.

No, Sonic was not alright. In that one fleeting moment, he was overcome with that vision again; a vision of darkness, random fire flashes, and that haunting female voice:

"_Sonic… Help me…"_

"…Who are you?" he whispered, his eyes glazed.

"Sonic, who're you talking to?" called out a worried Tails. To his horror, his big brother had begun to reach out to an unknown source, threatening to fall off the plane.

"Sonic! Lookout!" cried out Amy.

But their horrors came true, as Sonic lost his balance and went freefalling through the cloudy air. Even then, as he was plummeting at top speed, his mind was still a blank and his eyes still glazed.

"She needs me…" he uttered while still in a dream state. "…Blaze… It's Blaze! She needs me!" There was a small pause, but then at last his eyes blinked him back to reality. "…ugh…wha… WAAAAAHHH!"

"Sonic!" howled Tails, as he forced the Tornado to make a dive bomb in order to catch him. And catch him he did, with a "**THUD**."

The blue hedgehog landed on his soft belly, knocking the wind out of him, but he at least had enough sense to grab ahold of the wings' edge for dear life.

"Sonikuu! What happened!" screamed Amy. "Are you alright?"

"Uugh…" he moaned. "…Tails… Thanks, buddy."

"Sonic," frowned Tails, "you were talking to somebody, and then you nearly jumped! What was that about?"

Feeling truly guilty for his bizarre behavior, Sonic looked back at his bewildered friends. "I'm so sorry, you guys. Something weird just came over me, and… I swear, I heard Blaze the Cat calling out to me."

"…Blaze?" Tails mused. He recognized that name as an ally from past adventures.

"She needs us, bro. I dunno how, but I can feel it."

While still shaken by his brother's near death, Tails gave him an encouraging nod. "Okay, we'll get to the bottom of this. But first, we need to get to Angel Island."

"Just try not to blank out again, okay Sonikuu?" pleaded Amy.

"I promise," nodded the still dazed Sonic.

...

**Angel Island.**

He still couldn't believe that he was now sixteen.

It was a beautiful afternoon on the shores of Angel Island, where Knuckles the Echidna sat alone and stared at the fluffy white clouds that floated just above his levitating homeland. For the first time in what felt like forever, life on the island was peaceful. It really didn't matter if this was his birthday or not; just being completely at peace was enough to make the red echidna smile. And smile he did.

"Ah," he sighed to himself. "I wish every day was like this. No Eggman, no Rogue, no god-like monster out to destroy the world… and no Sonic to bust my-"

"SURPRISE!" came three male voices from behind.

"YAAAH!" So stunned was Knuckles, that his dreadlock quills stood on end as he almost literally jumped out of his skin. Then he turned around, and saw that it was Team Chaotix standing right behind him. As he clutched his heart with one mitten he sighed, "…Oh, it's you guys."

"Happy birthday, Knux!" smiled Vector the Crocodile, holding out a yellow box with a pink ribbon.

"We figured we'd show up early," gleamed Charmy the Bee, holding up a small blue box with a green ribbon on it.

Knuckles smiled, "Aw, thanks you guys… Wait, where's Espio?"

"I'm right here," replied the invisible Espio the Chameleon. He then took off his ruse and handed Knuckles a medium-sized red box with a white ribbon on it. "I hope you like sweaters."

"Gee, thanks," Knuckles chuckled. "So guys, I was thinking we can spend the whole day at Carnival Night Zone. You in?"

"Can we check out Hydrocity Zone too?" asked Vector. "I just love sliding down those waterfall slopes!"

"Yeah, yeah. We can do that too."

"How about Mushroom Hill Zone?" pleaded Charmy. "I love those springy shrooms!"

"Fine, fine."

"How about we let the birthday boy decide what we do today?" suggested Espio to his teammates.

Knuckles blushed, "Aw, it's okay. We've got all day to celebrate. Come on, let's head to the Hidden Palace. I'm supposed to meet with the others there."

As the quartet exited the sandy beach, Knuckles walked up to Espio and whispered, "By the way, did you get in touch with Mighty?"

The purple chameleon whispered back with a frown, "He's still unavailable; probably still exploring the high mountains."

Knuckles frowned in disappointment; he really wanted to see Mighty the Armadillo again, especially now after nearly two years of absence.

…

**Hidden Palace Zone.**

Charmy fluttered around the Master Emerald, which stood straight up without any need of support in the center of a marble shrine. Surrounding it were pillars, and on each one stood a Chaos Emerald, seven in total. They were all glowing like Christmas lights, and as any insect would be, Charmy was taken by them.

"Careful, Charmy. You knock those over an' Knucklehead will have you for dinner," warned Vector.

The young bee giggled, but then Espio spoke up. "He's not kidding, Charmy."

"Aww, but they're so pretty!" mused the little bee, fluttering up to the blue Chaos Emerald. "…How much longer till Sonic and the others get here?"

"They'll be here soon enough," replied a patient Knuckles, who picked up the yellow present brought by Vector and proceeded to shake it. Then he piled it next to the other presents by the Master Emerald, which remained his pride and joy.

"Hey," grinned Vector slyly. "Did you happen to invite Rouge the Bat too, Knux?"

"Ha," huffed an unamused Knuckles; "she's likely to steal my presents instead of giving me one… But to tell you the truth, I didn't invite her."

"Aww, why not?" frowned the tall crocodile. "I thought you two had somethin' goin'."

"Nah," shrugged the echidna. "She's just a flirt who doesn't know when to quit. Besides, I think she's dating Shadow."

"Shadow the Hedgehog?" gasped the crocodile. "That guy wouldn't know what a relationship was if it bit him in the-"

"I think we can end that sentence right there," interrupted Espio. "…Say, is anybody keeping an eye on—CHARMY!"

As the chameleon cried out, Knuckles and Vector also turned around and saw their little bee friend picking up the blue Chaos Emerald.

"No, Charmy! Put that down!" roared Knuckles with sharp fangs perturbing from his mouth. But just as he hollered, the frightened little bee dropped the blue emerald.

It landed with a **_"Shing!"_** and let out a flash of blue that could have blinded everyone, had they not closed and shielded their eyes in time.

Knuckles furiously approached Charmy as the bewildered little bee made a soft landing. "These are not toys, Charmy, they're mystical stones with great power. Don't you understand?"

"Sure I do," nodded Charmy, "but I just got so bored with waiting that I-"

"_Knuckles?" _came a sudden, feminine voice from out of the blue.

"Huh!" gasped the red echidna in surprise. "…Tikal? Is that you?"

"_Yes. It is I." _From within the heart of the Master Emerald, the spirit of Tikal the Echidna began to take shape, though she would remain transparent.

"Uh-oh," gulped Vector. "We've disturbed the spirit of the M.E. Uhh… Maybe we should leave now."

"You guys can stay," assured Knuckles; "I'll just tell her it was an accident."

"_No need for that, young Guardian,"_ replied the ghostly Tikal. _"There are far greater troubles at hand."_

"What's wrong, Tikal?" asked Knuckles worriedly.

"_I feel a great disturbance from within, it's as if someone or something is trying to contact us from worlds beyond."_

"Worlds beyond? You mean like other planets?"

"_More likely, from another reality."_

Knuckles gasped in worry. "Another reality? How is that possible?"

"_Every reality has a power source; the Chaos and Master Emeralds empower our world, but from another I feel a similar power."_

"Wow… You mean, there are other power sources like the emeralds out there?"

"_It's entirely possible."_

Intrigued, Knuckles scratched his chin. "So… Is it a distress signal? Can you tap into it?"

"_I'll try."_ Tikal's transparent figure faded to give way for the Master Emerald to glow bright green. There was a brief pause before a different female voice came out:

"**_Princess Blaze, can you hear me? It's Chief Lupe of the _****_Canus_****_Kingdom_****_. Can you hear me? We're under attack! We need reinforcements, now! …Blaze! Are you there, amiga!"_**

"Blaze," mused Knuckles. "I remember her; she's from… Wait! Now I remember: the Sol Emeralds! They must be the other worldly power source."

"_Indeed,"_ called out Tikal's spirit voice. _"I have no doubt now that the frequency is coming from the power of a Sol Emerald."_

Again, the other voice called out, **_"¿Qué? Whose voice is that? Sally? Sally, is that you chica? Come in, por favor! Come- …Augh! My pack!"_**

Knuckles moved closer to the Master Emerald to reply. "Whoever you are, we're friends from another world. What is going on over there? …Hello? Hello, Miss, can you hear me?"

The voice softly replied, **_"Mi Dio… It is too late… They've broken our defenses. ¡Apuro! I must hide the Emerald before…"_** And just like that, her voice died out, as well as the vibrations coming from the Master Emerald.

"…_Knuckles,"_ said Tikal's spirit grimly, _"I've lost the connection. She's gone."_

"No…" frowned the young guardian. He took a few steps backward to think over what had happened. "…Something's going down in Blaze's world. And if her world's in danger, then so's ours."

"_Yes. Our worlds are closely connected, like branches of a tree. If one severs, it will effect the other."_

"Then we have no choice, we must open a warp portal to get in there."

"_Aw, but Knuckles… It's your birthday."_

Knuckles smiled at where Tikal would stand. "It's alright. A guardian's work is never done. Besides, it was getting boring out here anyway."

"_Shall I open the portal now?"_

"No, wait for the others. They'll want in on this too."

"As you wish, young Guardian." Tikal's spirit then faded back into the Limbo set aside for her from within the Master Emerald.

All this time, the awestruck Team Chaotix stood back with wide jaws. But now that the room fell silent once more, Vector was keen to utter, "Man… Talk about perfect timing."

"What do you mean?" asked Espio beside him.

"Well, we were all just wondering when something exciting was gonna happen, right?"

"It's all fate," mused Knuckles, slightly to himself. Then he turned to his friends and frowned, "I'm sorry you guys, but we've gotta cut the party short."

"Aw that's okay," smiled Charmy. "We know you gotta go do your thing, Knux."

"And while you're gone," promised Espio, "we'll look after the Chaos Emeralds."

"Yeah," smiled Vector with a pumped fist. "I'd just like to see that little bat-girl try to get her grubby hands on these babies!"

Though he was thankful for their assistance, Knuckles couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "It's not just _Rouge_ getting them I'm worried about…"

...

Upon their arrival via the Tornado, Sonic, Tails and Amy were greeted by Knuckles on the beach of Angel Island. They were expecting a warm welcome, but instead the first thing they noticed was the solemn look on the red echidna's face.

"…Geez," joked Sonic, "even on his birthday he's a sourpuss."

With arms crossed, Knuckles replied, "I'm sorry to have to cut the party short, you guys, but something's come up. Something serious."

Amy and Tails exchanged confused glances, while Knuckles' attention was drawn to the hefty luggage in the seat of the Cyclone quad-plane. "…What the hell is all that?"

"Your presents," blushed Amy.

"Oh… Well, I do appreciate it. But I was just conversing with the spirit of Tikal. She's picked up a distress signal coming from another world."

"Blaze's world," confirmed Sonic abruptly.

"You know about it then?"

"I've been having these weird dreams, and I now know that it's her calling to me."

"She's in danger," nodded Knuckles solemnly. "And apparently, her entire world is too. As Guardian of the Chaos Emeralds, I have to go to this other world and make sure that the balance of nature doesn't shift."

"Hold on there, big guy," said Sonic sharply. "You're not going this alone! Blaze is my friend, and if anybody messes with her then they're messing with me!"

Knuckles scowled. "Can't you leave anything well enough alone?"

"Uh, gee. Lemmie think about it…. Nope!"

Knuckles sighed.

Then Amy, the pink female hedgehog, stepped forward. "I never met Blaze the Cat, but if she's as nice as Sonic says she is, then I want to help too."

"Me too!" exclaimed young Tails.

"I guess four heads are better than one," mused Knuckles. "Okay then, follow me to the Master Emerald's chamber."

…

Hidden Palace Zone.

Sonic and company had the pleasure of meeting Team Chaotix, who also were in attendance for Knuckles' birthday party.

Sonic just had to ask, "…No word from Mighty, guys?"

Vector shook his head sadly, "Not one. He's off on his own adventures, I guess."

Charmy was standing guard of the growing pile of birthday presents, while the Master Emerald began to glow with a warm green light, thus opening a vortex to the other dimension.

"_Knuckles,"_ said the ghostly voice of Tikal, _"the portal is ready."_

"Ready, you guys?" asked the echidna.

"Ready!" replied his three fellow adventurers.

Then Knuckles looked back at the mischievous Charmy and warned, "Don't open those presents till I get back."

Charmy gave him a salute, though nearby Espio and Vector exchanged glares of suspicion.

"Alright, here we go. Altogether now…" Knuckles grabbed ahold of Amy's hand, Amy's Sonic's, and Sonic's Tails'. "…GO!"

Like a breath of wind, the four adventurers were sucked into the portal, and then it closed behind them just as quickly.

…

**- NEW TEAMS! -**

BROTHERS IN ARMS: Sonic (Speed Type) and Tails (Flight Type)

ROSE RED: Amy (Heal Type) and Knuckles (Power Type)

...

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	2. Shadow's Quest Begins

**Part 2: "Shadow's Story"**

…

Emerald Hill Zone, mid afternoon. A lovely blue sky, happy puffy white clouds, swaying palm trees and-

"REACH FOR DA SKY, VARMINTS!"

…And Fang the Sniper.

Tracking down a crazed wolf/weasel hybrid on a looting rampage was not exactly the kind of afternoon outing that Shadow the Hedgehog had in mind. Neither was it ideal for his fellow G.U.N. agent, Rouge the Bat. But there they were, standing toe to toe and gun to gun with Fang, on the edge of a cliff as he threatened to toss his treasure of stolen property into the ocean below.

"Really." Shadow mused. "You went through all that trouble stealing gold and diamonds, just to throw it into the ocean?"

"Not exactly a victory dance, I'd say," Rouge coyly added.

"Heeheeheeheehee!" giggled the wily purple hybrid. "You think Ah'm gonna jest toss dis bounty wit'out an escape route? Ye coppers are really stupid."

"We're not 'coppers,' we're special agents," Shadow corrected him with his typical darkly brooding tone of voice. "Some of that gold is government property, and we'll take it back whether you're dead or alive."

"Ooo, a cowboy afta mah own h'art. Ah'm touched," grinned the wolf/weasel with that one oversized fang drooping from his upper lip. "But you's still underesstimatin' me; Ah got me a speedboat just unda'neath the cliff 'ere. One jump, an' y'all can kiss me _and_ mah loot g'bye!"

Shadow's finger twitched as it hugged the trigger of his ballista gun. "Go ahead and jump, weasel. I'll be right there in that boat waiting for you. **Chaos… Cont**-AUGH!"

"Shadow!" gasped Rouge, as her partner had suddenly keeled over in pain, clutching his chest as though he were having a heart attack. "…Shadow? What's wrong?"

As the two federal agents were preoccupied, Fang made his clean getaway, jumping into the speed boat he had been warning about. Off he rode, hooting and hollering all the way.

Meanwhile, Shadow fell to one knee, gritting his teeth in agony.

Rouge knelt beside him, patting his back in sympathy. "Come on, big guy, whatever it is you can beat it."

"Errr," he sneered. He wanted to respond to Rouge, but he was temporarily paralyzed. And stranger yet, there was another female voice calling out to him, one ghostly and unrecognizable:

"…_Hello? …Is anyone there?"_

And just like that, the voice and the pain all faded away.

Shadow paused to let some air into his lungs, while his batty sidekick stood up with a sigh. "Whew… Don't scare me like that again, you jerk!"

"…the…. the weasel…" Shadow weakly replied.

"…He got away," frowned the bat-girl.

Shadow's red eyes flashed open as he gasped. His left gloved hand pulled at the grassy floor as his fury seeped in. "…no… NO! DAMN IT, I NEVER FAIL A MISSION!"

"Relax, we'll get him next time."

"No! He was **mine**!" He slammed his fists into the ground before calming himself. "….Rouge, you head back to base and get reinforcements. I'm going to use my Chaos Control to try and catch up with him."

"But… You were just in pain while doing that."

He winced at her. "It was just a fluke. I'm fine now. Go!"

"You may need to see a doctor, Shadow. Maybe all that Chaos Energy inside you is starting to act up."

"I appreciate your concern," he growled impatiently, "but right now we have an outlaw on the run, and we need reinforcements."

"I don't want to argue with you, but-"

"Gee. You know what would be great right now? REINFORCEMENTS!"

Rouge balled her fists and growled, "Ergh! …Alright, have it your way. But I swear, if you get another episode like that, you're gonna wish you listened to me for once!" She then extended her leathery black wings, and fluttered away.

Shadow then paused to look down at his chest; that "episode" truly did shake him, but far be it from him to show any fear or weakness- especially in front of someone else. That was just not his way.

…

As the prideful Shadow resumed his search for the wily Fang, he found his way to a small pool at the edge of the jungle. Perhaps all he really needed was a cool drink, and so he leaned over to scoop up water.

Then, that same sharp pain hit him again. "Aurgh!" he gritted, clinging onto his chest fur. As he tried to breathe, he heard that same feminine voice speak out.

"…_Hello? …Is anyone there?"_

His eyes lit open with surprise. "Huh?" He then glanced around, but he was clearly alone.

"_Can anyone hear me?"_ asked the ghostly voice.

Shadow tensed up and unsheathed his gun. "…Who's there? Show yourself!"

"…_Hello?"_

"Hello! Now who the hell are you!" he called out impatiently.

"_Please… I need help. My name is Sally, of the Acorn Kingdom."_

"Sally… Acorn Kingdom? …Never heard of it."

Shadow was still unsure of where the voice was coming from, until he looked down at the pool and noticed that is was rippling without him touching it. Stranger yet, the water itself was glowing light blue, as though a star fell from the sky and into the pool. As he gazed into the water longer, he could finally see that his reflection was taking a different shape- one of a female red-headed squirrel.

"…What in the," he gasped softly.

The lady reflection stared back at him, equally amazed. _"It's_ you_,"_ she mused. _"You're the one I've called out to."_

"I don't understand," frowned a confused Shadow.

"_I'm using the power of my Sol Emerald to contact help. Are you in possession of one as well?"_

"Sol Emerald?" blinked the black hedgehog. "I only know of the Chaos Emeralds, and I've been infused with their power."

"_Chaos Emeralds?...If they're anything like the Sol Emeralds, then that explains how we're communicating,"_ replied the ghostly squirrel.

"So **you're** the one giving me the heartburn from hell," winced Shadow. Indeed, his pains seemed to be linked to the ghost figure's aura.

"_Listen, I don't have much time. My people are in terrible danger; we're being overrun by a ruthless tyrant, and we need all the help we can get. …Will you help us?"_

"Hmm," Shadow hummed. This sounded like a hero's job, and he was no hero. At least, not in his own mind, he wasn't. "…Sorry, lady, you've got the wrong hedgehog. Even if I knew where this Acorn Kingdom was, I couldn't help you."

"_But you must… You have the power…!"_

"Like I said, you got the wrong guy. Sorry." Shadow stood up and turned to walk away, when he heard these words:

"_Coward, come back here! If you don't help us, then we'll all fall under the rule of Doctor Robotnik!"_

He froze, stunned. That name… He knew that name from his past. _Robotnik._ It rung through his brain like a dooming bell. Quickly, he turned back to the lady in the lake. "Did you say Robotnik? As in Gerald Robotnik?"

"_I only know of one Robotnik,"_ replied the lady squirrel, _"and he's a terrible man. He's turning people into his robotic slaves… But I suppose if you're too afraid to face him-"_

"Afraid!" he growled. "I am Shadow the Hedgehog; I fear nothing!"

"_Then allow me to use my emerald's power and open a warp hole. Once you jump in, you should be sent to my world. Are you ready?"_

Shadow paused only for a moment, to look back at the task he left behind. Perhaps Rouge could handle Fang on her own; she was a big girl, after all. Besides, this Robotnik character sounded far more intriguing than any jewel-snatching weasel.

He looked back at the lady in the lake. "…Bring it on."

With that, a bright golden light fell upon the water, indicating the warp hole being activated. Without giving it a second thought, Shadow jumped in.

**LOADING ZONE...**


	3. KNOTHOLE VILLAGE ZONE: Shadow

**Part 3: "Welcome to Knothole"**

**- KNOTHOLE VILLAGE ZONE -**

**- ACT I -**

…

In a brilliant flash of light, Shadow had been transported body and soul into a magnificent temperate forest with walls of super-tall pine trees and only a few patches of open space for sunlight to seep through.

Though slightly dazed, the black hedgehog was armed with his two pistols, called Ballista Guns, which could shoot small pellets of dark energy that would give off electric shocks. With no Rings yet on hand, these shocks would do very little damage to a robotic enemy, so it was time to collect some.

"Time for some action."

As there was little room to run at top speed, Shadow had to make do with floating on his rocket-powered shoes. He swayed his body from side to side like a speed skater, and almost appeared to be floating, as he zoomed left and right to avoid tree trunks. There were lines of three Rings to be collected between every five tree passes, and their direction switched from left to right, right to left, left, to left, right to left.

**Ring Count: 21- Ballista Guns now at 40% Power level**

Upon getting twenty-one Rings, a sudden attack! Phasing into the scene in chameleon-like fashion was a Newtron, a "Badnik" shaped like a true chameleon, perched on a tree trunk. This robot fired a small of energy at Shadow, and hit him, knocking out his Rings. Angered, shadow performed a signature "Spin Attack" on the Badnik before it had a chance to disappear.

Upon coming to a steep hill, Shadow curled into a ball and rolled downhill and managed to snag ten Rings in the process. He then skated deeper into a dark area of the forest, where more Badniks would be hiding.

Among them were Buzz Bombers, bee-shaped robots with laser stingers. Three swooped down from the treetops, but Shadow shot one with his pistol and Spin-Attacked the other two.

Next came two beetle-like Motobugs; they were sluggish, but carefully hid themselves in bushes before attacking at close range. They were no match for Shadow.

Then the black hedgehog paused at the sound of flocks of birds taking flight in the sky. They caught his attention not just because they appeared so suddenly, but because it seemed they were startled by the sound of gunfire. Intrigued, shadow sped on.

As the forest became more and more condensed with trees, Shadow was losing room to run and sunlight to see with. It was time to take to a higher level. Using his Stealth attributes, he Spin-Dashed up a tree like it were a vertical ramp. On the way, he snagged three more Rings, and just barely missed being hit by a coiling Caterkiller Badnik.

**Ring Count: 13- Ballista Guns now at 15% Power level**

Shadow landed safely on a tree branch which overlooked the ground level of the Zone. He could now clearly see where the next Rings would be, as well as spotting some hidden Badniks. But he was now also in Buzz Bomber territory, and two started to swoop his way. Unphased, Shadow shot them down one by one, before making a flying leap onto another tree's branch.

Jumping from branch to branch proved to cover far more ground, but shadow wasn't totally satisfied; he wanted more Rings. After hitting another Buzz Bomber with a Jump Attack, he fell to the ground and skated down a pathway that seemed to be carved out from the dirt. The pathway had up to twenty Rings on it, and Shadow got them all.

The pathway led to two fallen logs, placed fairly apart from each other, with each one housing five Rings within their hollow shells. Shadow jumped over the first log, missing an opportunity, but then he Spin-Dashed through the second.

**Ring Count: 38- Ballista Guns now at 33.3% Power level**

With this level of power, the Ballista guns could now shoot through trees. Shadow shot one down, just to knock out some oncoming insectoid Badniks. But a second tree had fallen without his influence, blocking his pathway. He growled, but then he used his Stealth to clear over it without hesitation.

As it turned out, that second downed tree was the result of cannon fire from the distance. Shadow came to a halt by a steep cliff, and oversaw an ongoing battle between giant humanoid mechas and fleeing Mobians. The mechas, called SWAT-bots, had to be at least eight feet tall; too tall to be taken out with just one hit. Shadow would need more Rings to upgrade his arsenal.

Shadow resumed his run through the forest without scaling down the cliff into battle. Covering three more miles granted him a total of 54 Rings; now his guns could blast dark energy as big as watermelons, as opposed to the baseball-sized ones of earlier. Surely this amount of energy could take out a SWAT-bot, he figured. And as fate would have it-

**BOOM!**

Three trees were downed in front of the hedgehog's red eyes, the result of a charging SWAT-bot. It fired with a laser cannon protruding from its left arm, while its right hand was armed with a giant buzz-saw. Shadow fired two shots at it; the first hit the saw, the other hit the 'bot right in its face. As he suspected, this was a kill-shot. The machine fell down for the count, but it sparked a flame which endangered the trees around it. Shadow dashed onward.

Shadow found a new dirt-scratched pathway and followed its zig-zagging pattern. Gaining momentum, he started to pick up speed and started to give off a black and red blur. Triple-rowed Rings followed, upping his Ring count now to nearly seventy. But now he had to be careful; one hit from a Badnik or SWAT-bot could spell trouble.

**Ring Count: 69- Ballista Guns now at 70% Power level**

To his luck, Shadow's pathway merged into a downhill slope, which he dashed down in a black and red ball. At this speed, he managed to knock out all oncoming Badniks, from Newtrons to Motobugs with no effort at all. And better still, more Rings on the way.

**Ring Count: 84- Ballista Guns now at 85% Power level**

The gunfire and cannon fire, along with the sounds of screaming, were inching ever closer. Shadow shook with excitement, knowing that he was now ready for some real action! He followed the screams to an open field in the woods. There, fire and smoke replaced pine walls. Gone were petty Badniks, replaced by a legion of ten SWAT-bots. Shadow waited for the frightened Mobians to clear the area, before running into battle.

"You're _mine_ now," he announced to his targets.

With no trees threatening to block his path, Shadow came at the mechas at top speed. He fires three shots at the first SWAT-bot, damaging its shoulders. The second, he spun himself into, cutting it from the waist. The third nearly hit him with its laser gun, but missed. As it too fell under his gun, the black hedgehog skated around to collect random Rings.

**Ring Count: 104- Ballista Guns now at FULL POWER**

"Full Power!" he cheered darkly. He knew that this meant that his guns were not only at their full potential, but could now do major damage via Special Attacks. But instead of wasting energy, he cleverly bided his time for when more and more SWAT-bots arrived.

Shadow watched as ten more mechas came charging through a now burning forest. It seemed as though their tactics were becoming more frantic, as if they sensed that they were under threat. Shadow took cover in a ditch, and strategically picked them off one by one, each laser bullet the size of a basketball.

After destroying the first twenty mechas, a slew of them came from everywhere. This was the moment that shadow the Hedgehog had been waiting for. Bravely, he jumped out of his ditch and came skating towards them like a bat out of hell, guns blazing. The SWAT-bots were just no match for his lightning-fast pace, but they did manage to surround him within minutes.

Of course, that was Shadow's plan all along. With all of these enemies in plain sight, it was Special Attack time:

"**ULTRA-BLAST!"**

_**WHOOOOOOOSH!**_ Shadow's laser guns blasted two major streams of pure dark energy, like torrents of water pouring from a hole in a dam. The mechas were all taken in, especially since Shadow could twirl himself around to make sure he got every last one of them in one fell swoop.

Dust, brimstone and debris all filled the area within seconds, but a gust of wind was kind enough to carry them off to reveal the last figure left standing. Shadow gleamed with pride.

"That's how it's done, kids."

**- ACT I CLEARED! -**

**Total Ring Count: 136**

**Power Level: 100%**

**Rank: A (EXCELLENT!)**

…

**- ACT II -**

The battle was far from over; it simply moved to another location.

Shadow decided to head into the part of the pinewood forest where smoke was seeping from the distant treetops. The path he was on started out straightforward, but quickly became a maze of trees, random Ring corners, and even more Badniks ready to spring out.

First came the Mantis-like Slicers, who were creepy enough in that they were the tallest Badniks yet, but the worst part was their ability to shoot their scissor claws at Shadow. One of those scissors got him no sooner than three seconds into the Act.

**Ring Count: 0**

"Damn it!" Shadow quickly gathered what Rings he could from his damage, 20 total.

Shadow avenged himself by obliterating the Slicers with Spin Attacks before scaling another tree trunk with his Stealth ability. Almost every tree now was home to a curling and climbing Caterkiller Badnik, each lined with spikes and armed with laser breath. The Caterkiller on the tree Shadow scaled was bonked in the head by the hedgehog's Spin Attack; it loosened his grip on the tree, but it was worth it to re-climb it unharmed.

Smoke from the distance was now making the terrain hard for Shadow to scan, but he jumped from one trunk to another thanks to bouncy, almost spring-like branches:

**Boing! Boing! Boing!**

Two Buzz Bombers came flying at him, almost invisible thanks to the cover of oncoming smoke, but Shadow was ready with his guns. He shot down both of them before descending onto the ground again.

The new area he was in was dust-covered, with the remains of SWAT-bots and Badniks that were already destroyed- possibly by Mobian resistance. It was a rather grim scene, but there were Rings to be had…

**Ring Count: 10… 20… 30- Ballista Guns at 30% Power Level**

Finally, he was getting back on track.

More Slicers were approaching, throwing their scissor claws like boomerangs. This time, Shadow was ready with a new special move: **"Chaos Control!"** He used his special chaos power to warp himself from one end of the area to the other side, over-passing all oppositions.

In the next area, there was a small river with floating raft-like logs. He cleared it by jumping over logs as they passed, and managed to snag five more rings that hovered over the water. He was getting closer to his goal…

Suddenly, in the distance, an alarm went off. It sounded similar to that of a fire truck engine, but perhaps it was coming from more enemies. Curious, Shadow followed a dirt path into another maze of pinewood.

Zig-zagging through the darkening wood with his skates proved to be a chore, especially with on-coming Motorbugs and Buzz Bombers. Left he turned, then right, then left again, keeping left, and then jumping over a fallen log.

**Ring Count: 47- Ballista Guns at 45% Power Level**

So close. He was so close! All he needed were five more Rings, and then-

"LOOKOUT!" came a voice from above.

"Huh?" gasped Shadow, looking upward.

A body was falling from the treetops, almost directly over him. Shadow got out of the way just in time, before the creature landed on its feet. It turned out to be a female rabbit, dressed in a purple one-piece bodysuit, with oversized, fully-robotic legs, and a left arm just as robotic. Her left ear was drooped downward, while the right remained erect. It almost looked like a hairstyle.

She, the cream-colored rabbit with the purple eyelash and puffy-banged hair, turned to the hedgehog with a friendly smile. "…Sorry, shugah. Didn't see ya there."

Shadow blinked. "…What's going on? Who're you?"

She spoke in a distinct Southern accent. "Name's Bunnie. Bunnie Rabbot. The resistance is this way, follow me!"

Inclined to obey, shadow let Bunnie run in front while he jumped to grab a few more Rings on their path.

**Ring Count: 59- Ballista Guns at 60% Power**

At last, he achieved the fifty-count mark. He could perform another move made specially for Stealth fighters. But he waited until he and Bunnie made it to a new clearing to perform it.

Like the end of Act I, this Act was to end on a battlefield, only this one was much bigger and with smoke hiding most of the opposition. Shadow watched in amazement as various animal beings jumped out of the forest carrying various weapons and charging boldly toward a legion of fifty SWAT-bots in total.

Shadow had his eye on all fifty oppositions, but the smoke proved hard to see them without having to get dangerously close to them. And he needed to hold onto his Rings if he was to clear this Act with a feeling of perfection. And so, with his +fifty Ring Count, he performed a new Stealth Move: Invisibility.

"**Chaos… Phase!"**

He was now translucent, and able to find his enemies without them seeing him. This seemed like an unfair advantage, but the ability caused his Rings to disappear from count, one by one, so he had to move fast.

**BANG! …BANG! …BANG, BANG!**

His first few shots were dead-on, but the 'bots were moving faster. He had an unlimited amount of "bullets," but shadow's patience- and Ring Count- were fading. He had to pull away to grab what few Rings were scattered in the area- from fallen debris of metal, to the insides of fallen tree logs, and even three more on the branch of a burning tree which he would have to scale. He had grabbed them all, and remained invisible.

**Ring Count: 42 and dropping**

Forty-two seconds. That was all the time he needed to complete his mission.

With his rocket-powered shoes, he skated across the grassy landscape, shooting down the last thirty SWAT-bots undetected. When he got down to just ten Rings though, the last three SWAT-bots banded together so that one shot from the Ballista Guns just wouldn't be enough.

"Fine then," he mused, staring them down as he regained his true form. **"…CHAOS… SPEAR!"**

From his bare hands, shadow pushed out a great bolt of red lightning, which cut through the remaining enemies in a fashion only half as glorious as his finishing move of Act I. Shadow wasn't really looking for a grand finale though, just a short one.

"Heh… Game over, losers."

**- ACT II CLEARED! -**

**Total Ring Count:**

**Power Level: **

**Rank: A+ (PERFECT!)**

…

As the last three SWAT-bots fell, there was a moment of silence, but then shadow heard the unmistakable sound of metal clashing. He turned around, and saw that it was his new ally, Bunnie, clapping his performance.

"Bravo!" she cheered, as her fellow Mobians rose up from the smoke and ash. "That was really amazing, shugah!"

"Shugah?" mused the black hedgehog. "It's Shadow."

The female cyber-rabbit giggled. "Sorry, that's just how Ah talk. Welcome t'Knothole!"

The newcomer was soon greeted by other animal beings- pigs, squirrels, rabbits and foxes mainly. So curious and bemused were they that some tried to reach out and pet his quills. He frowned at them as they came close; they were no threat of course, but still it bothered him to be surrounded by so many. He felt awkward.

"Okay, okay ev'rybody, give 'im room," said Bunnie, sensing his tension. "Settle down, naw… Listen, uh, Shadow is it?"

"Yes?"

"We really appreciate yer help. You should come wit us n' meet our lead'r back at th'base."

"That won't be necessary Bunnie," came a female voice from behind, a voice so familiar that it sent chills up Shadow's spine. "I'm already here."

Shadow couldn't believe his eyes when he looked upon their proclaimed leader. "Oh… It's _you_!"

…

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	4. The Gang's All Here

**Part 4: "The Gang's All Here"**

**Knothole Village Zone.**

When Sonic opened his bright green eyes, he found himself surrounded by pinewood. He and the others were dazed from the teleport, but were soon alarmed to the sounds of gunfire and screaming in the far distance. Smoke and ash crept into their noses.

"Where are we?" asked Knuckles as he rubbed his forehead.

"Some kind of forest Zone," replied Sonic as he scrambled to his feet.

Amy was next to stand up. "…It's beautiful here… but, I smell smoke."

"A forest fire," gasped Tails. He then spun his twin tails around in a propeller-like fashion to take to the air. Up in the treetops, Tails overlooked a gruesome sight: there wasn't just smoke and flames in the distance, but Buzz Bombers on the attack. He was then ambushed by one from behind, and had just barely averted its laser fire.

"Guys!" gasped the kit upon landing. "We're under attack! There's Badniks everywhere!"

"Split up," ordered Sonic. "Tails, you're with me; Knuckles, watch over Amy. We'll go left, you go right."

"Hey," frowned the pink hedgehog, "why can't I stay with you, Sonic?"

"What, do I stink?" muttered the red echidna.

"Just do it, Amy!" and with that, Sonic took off in a blue blur, followed by Tails.

"Grr," groaned Amy in disappointment before turning to her appointed guardian. She noticed the scowl on his face as he crossed his arms. "…I meant no offense, okay?"

"It's not you; I just hate it when he bosses me around." Knuckles' attention then turned to the sounds of explosions in the West. "Watch my back."

"Got it."

Knuckles led the charge, while Amy whipped out her magic hammer.

…

**- Team: Brothers in Arms -**

Sonic had an edge when it came to fast pacing, but speeding through a forest covered in tall pine trees proved difficult. Especially when, around any given turn, there could have been a line of Rings or an oncoming Motobug. But with Tails as his flying lookout, he was quick to learn of enemy locations.

"Rings up ahead! …Jump now! Watch out!" Tails would cry out.

**Ring Count: 10… 25… 35… 50**

Sonic was much too fast for those poor old Badniks, even the Caterkillers posted on the trees were no match for his Spin Attacks. And he had only gotten faster as he slid down cliffs and fallen tree trunks. When he came to the same river as Shadow had earlier, he didn't even need to jump over logs; he simply glided across the water as though it were solid.

"Heh-heh. This is kinda fun," grinned the blue blur. But he was about to meet his match in the form of his first SWAT-bot.

**Ring Count: 70 - BOOM! - 0**

"What!" gasped the hedgehog as he was suddenly knocked on his rear. He soon realized that he had run smack into a giant humanoid mecha, armed with a chainsaw for a left arm. His ears pinned back in fear; "Oh… Now I see."

He jumped backward to dodge the chainsaw as it swooped down on him. Then Tails grabbed his arms and lifted him in the air, out of the SWAT-bot's reach.

"I'm out of Rings," warned Sonic to Tails. "Let's get outta here."

"I'm on it." Tails hoisted his brother upward toward the canopy, and together they jumped from one branch to another, while SWAT-bots on the ground tried to shoot at them.

Seeing them coming a mile away, another SWAT-bot armed with a chainsaw hacked its way through a tree. This would have been the tree that Sonic and Tails would have landed on, but now they were trapped. Worse yet, SWAT-bots were swarming them from all sides.

Just when Sonic was about to jump into the fray, he heard a male voice call out, "EN GUARDE!"

The SWAT-bots then turned their metal heads over to a golden-furred coyote standing atop a large rock nearby. He had blonde hair and parted bangs, wore a white blouse that wrapped around him like a tunic, black pants, long brown boots, and matching brown gloves. He also had with him a long pirate-like sword. The coyote then took a flying leap, spun in mid-air almost in Spin-Dash form, and landed right in front of the tree upon which Sonic and Tails were cornered.

"Who's _that_ guy!" exclaimed a bewildered Tails.

Hearing this, the coyote glanced upward at him, and spoke in a thick French accent. "Bonjour! No need to fear, Sir Antoine D'Coolette shall save-a you!"

Not impressed with the stranger, Sonic frowned with drooped ears. "…I hate this guy already."

…

**- Team: Rose Red -**

"DIE! DIE, YOU BIG UGLY ROBOT!"

Amy literally hammered her SWAT-bot adversary into the ground as if it were a giant nail, much to the shock of her Tag Partner Knuckles.

On the battlefield of ACT II, where Shadow made his last stand earlier, the team of Knuckles and Amy were taking care of the very last bunch of robotic attackers, as the forest fire around them raged on. While Am needed a weapon, Knuckles on the other hand relied only on his bare hands. Of course, having rock-hard spikes on his hands helped matters.

As a Power-type fighter, Knuckles was naturally Herculean and punched out one robot after another like it were made of straw. Upper-cutting them to their silver jaws proved to be most effective, as he took out more robots than Amy did.

But soon, the fire was becoming the bigger problem. "Amy!" shouted Knuckles, "You take care of the rest, I'll put out the fire!"

With the field littered with scattered pieces of broken 'bots, Knuckles found an easy solution: he picked up one piece after another and crushed it into crumbs, small enough to pile onto flames like dust. He had a lot of ground to cover, but with Amy's help (using her hammer to knock down burning trees), the job was done within the hour. After the last flame was buried, the team gave pause to look upon their progress proudly.

Their victory was short lived, due to the sound of a gun click, followed by a female voice shouting, "That's as far as you go, Legionnaire! …Step away from the civilian and raise your hands!"

Startled, Knuckles and Amy whipped themselves to the right, and saw a hot/neon pink creature standing over a fallen tree log, aiming a double-barrel gun at Knuckles. She, much to the shock of poor Knuckles, was…

"An echidna," muttered the stunned Amy. "Knuckles, she's an echidna!"

Indeed, it was a hot-pink-furred echidna. Like Knuckles, her quills were designed as dreadlocks; though some "locks," particularly the one by her left eye, were silvery metallic. Atop her forehead was a tuft of purple fur, set as hair bangs. She donned a tank top which was half-black, half-turquoise. Both of her arms were silver, possibly metallic along with some of her quills. Around her waist was a golden belt with a medium-sized circular buckle. Her gloves were mittened like her red male's counterpart, but lacked the claws he had. Her thick hiking boots matched the turquoise of her tank top. And her deep purple eyes were glaring very hatefully at Knuckles.

"I said hands in the air!" she shouted at him.

Still overwhelmed with shock, Knuckles complied to the she-echidna's demands. But Amy then retorted, "Wait, stop! I-I think there's been a misunderstanding; we're not your enemies."

The she-echidna narrowed her eyes. "…He's not a Legionnaire?"

"He's an echidna. Like you!"

"I'm aware of that," huffed the young lady. She then lowered her gun and slowly approached her suspect. Knuckles was frozen, except for his deep blue eyes which were glued to the she-echidnas'. She circled him like a predator to prey, examining any signs of cybernetic implants. He too scanned her, but only because he was sure he was dreaming all of this.

To confirm his fears, Knuckles abruptly reached out for the female. "…Are-are you real?"

"Don't touch me!" she snapped, flicking his mitten away with her gun barrel.

Amy frowned, "Don't hurt him, he's my friend! His name is Knuckles, and mine is Amy Rose. We're from another dimension."

"Hmph! A likely story," replied the mysterious one. "We'll settle this back at camp. You two, follow me! Quick-step!"

STILL overwhelmed with shock with his bulged eyes and small gaping mouth, Knuckles was quick to follow orders. Amy, on the other hand, had her suspicions about this new echidna, following closely behind Knuckles.

Though he couldn't bring himself to speak, Knuckles clearly had one thing on his mind: _"An echidna! …A female echidna! …A _beautiful_ female echidna! …This. Is the best. Birthday. EVER."_

…

As the last SWAT-bot fell under Antoine's sword, Sonic and Tails remained sitting on a tree branch nearby. The blue hedgehog clapped, "Okay, now I'm impressed."

"Merci beaucoup," bowed the coyote.

Tails then carried Sonic down to the ground before the hedgehog introduced himself. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, and this is my little brother Tails."

"Hi!" smiled the fox as he shook Antoine's hand. "I like your sword."

"Oh, merci!"

"Mercy?"

"_Merci_. Iz French. And, eh, you are not from around here are you?"

"No," Sonic shook his head. "We were called here by Blaze the Cat. Do you know her?"

"Oui! Everyone knows Blaze ze Cat. She is one of ze Seven Guardians of ze Sol Emeralds."

"Seven?" gasped Sonic and Tails. "But," added the young fox, "I thought Blaze was the only guardian."

"Oh no, times, they have changed," explained Antoine. "But we cannot discuss it 'ere, let us head back to our camp and talk to ze prin—I mean, eh, our leader. Follow me."

Sonic noticed that Antoine had corrected himself with a rather nervous look on his face. But then he shrugged it off and followed his new ally.

…

Deep in the heart of Knothole Wood, there stood a series of log cabins that stood both on the ground and in the treetops. Here, there lived the small yet brave band of animal rebels called the Freedom Fighters. Joining them now were Sonic and Tails, led by Antoine. The two strangers paused to see the rebels coming out of their cabins, or looking through their cabin windows, to greet them with their curious eyes.

"…Move it, slowpoke!" came a new voice. Into the scene from another direction was the hot pink she-echidna, still pointing her gun at Knuckles while Amy trailed behind. "I'm warning you, buddy, once I get you into questioning…"

"Julie-Su!" barked Antoine upon seeing her. "Iz zat any way to treat our new guests? Put zat gun down, young lady!"

Julie-Su the Echidna glared at him. "I don't take orders from you, Frenchie."

"That's right," came another female voice, "you take orders from _me_. Put the gun down."

Sonic followed the new voice to a young lady-squirrel standing by. She had short red hair, slightly curled in the back, while the rest of her fur was light brown with a tan underbelly. She had striking blue eyes, a light blue opened vest with boots that matched its shade (along with a white stripe on each boot that almost matched those on Sonic's red shoes). Her hands were covered by white gloves lined in blue, with semi-long cuffs. And though she was indeed a squirrel, her tail had been docked to a small stub.

"….ho-o-o-o-oly mama…." Uttered the spellbound blue hedgehog.

"Down, boy. I saw her first."

Recognizing_ that_ voice, Sonic turned to the character standing right behind him. "Shadow!"

Shadow the Hedgehog, who had been in this tiny village just under an hour, smirked at his young rival. "Well, well, well. It's a small dimension after all."

"Wait a minute," replied a disbelieving Sonic. "Is it really you, or some alternate-dimension you?"

"There's only _one _Ultimate Life Form," said the smug black hedgehog. "Though, it ceases to amaze me just how many Fakers there are."

As Shadow turned to walk away, Sonic exclaimed rather dramatically, "Oh my GAWD, will get over yourself!"

Feeling the tension between her guests, the lady-squirrel asked, "Um, am I missing something?"

Sonic then turned back to her with a coy smile. "Oh, no! Nothing, it's nothing! Ahem… I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog."

"I know."

"Y-you know me?"

"Well, I know you're a hedgehog. It's pretty obvious."

"Oh… right," he blushed. "Um…"

"I'm sorry," she giggled, "that was rude of me."

"Oh no, it's fine, Miss…"

"Sally," she nodded.

"Sally! That's a pretty name… Hmm…" His eyes couldn't help but wander downward, toward the lady's fuzzy tan torso and shapely hips. "Yesss…. very pretty…"

"Hey!" she snapped her fingers and pointed to her face with extreme sternness. "Eyes up _here_, buddy!"

Caught red-handed, the blue hedgehog glanced to the grassy floor in desperation. "Uh-uh-uh, I- I think I dropped a quarter!"

She rolled her eyes at him before catching a glimpse of the small orange figure standing behind him. She bent her knees for a closer look; "And who's this cute little guy?" she smiled.

"I'm Tails!" beamed the excited little fox upon jumping in front of his brother to shake Sally's hands. "It's very nice to meet you, Miss Sally! I like your hair!"

"Thank you! And you can just call me Sally… Now then." She turned to Julie-Su who remained standing by her captives. "Julie-Su, do you have to scare everyone you meet?"

The pink echidna poked Knuckles with her gun. "It's pretty obvious that this one's from the Labyrinth Kingdom, Sal."

"What's the Labyrinth Kingdom?" asked a nervous Knuckles.

The redheaded squirrel replied, "It's one of the Seven main Kingdoms of our world. Each one possesses a Sol Emerald; originally, only Blaze the Cat was appointed to guard them, but then a war broke out and the only way to keep the peace was to allow each kingdom to own one emerald."

"Well," sighed Sonic, "that explains something."

"It explains everything," interrupted Shadow, who sat down at a wooden table nearby. "It explains how I came into contact with Sally here in the first place; she called to me through my Chaos Control."

"And," added an enlightened Knuckles, "that explains the stranger I heard through the Master Emerald. She must have been a guardian too."

"What did she sound like?" asked Sally.

"Spanish."

"Then it was the High Chieftain, Lupe the Wolf. All of us Guardians have been trying to contact each other lately; we're at war again, but this time with one common enemy."

"Let me guess," frowned Sonic; "Eggman-Nega?"

"That was his name," nodded Sally. "Now he goes by Doctor Robotnik; he's obsessed with turning everyone into his robot slaves."

"Sounds familiar," uttered the blue hedgehog under his breath. Sally blinked, hearing him, so he responded, "We have a similar enemy in our world, named Doctor Eggman."

"Your world," mused the redhead. "Please… tell me more about it. In fact, let's all sit down for supper, and then we can talk. And for the LAST TIME, JULIE-SU, DROP THE WEAPON!"

"Grr," growled the she-echidna, finally complying. She gave Knuckles an icy cold glare before letting him move away.

As Knuckles and Amy ran to Sonic and Tails' sides, their new ally leader assured them, "All will be explained in due time, m friends. Until then, make yourselves at home and rest a while. I have a feeling tomorrow's gonna be a long day."

How right she would be…

…

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	5. You're Not My Type

**Part 5: "You're Not My Type"**

…

Most of that first night in Knothole Village was spent by campfires, as both groups- the Freedom Fighters and the visitors from the other world- exchanged stories of heroism. While Sonic entertained his new friends with his tales of defeating Dr. Eggman, he and his friends would find stories from Sally and Antoine to be all the more interesting.

At one point, the reserved Julie-Su sat down by Bunnie and Rotor the Walrus, and was noticed by Knuckles from a few feet away. He waved her down with a warm smile, but was rejected with a quiet turn of her face. He frowned and dropped his hand in reply.

"So Rotor," smiled Tails, "you're an inventor too?"

"More like a tweaker," replied Rotor humbly. "I take old machines busted up in battle and recycle them into weapons or vehicles."

"Sounds like something I'd do," beamed the little fox proudly. "We should team-up from now on."

"You're a bit young for fighting though, aren't you kiddo?"

"Nah, I'm a Flight-Type. I can avoid battle if it gets too rough, plus my big bro is always there for me."

"Oh, you go by Types too?"

"We have three main fighting Types," explained Sonic; "I'm a Speed-Type, which means I'm faster than most. Tails here flies with his tails, so he's a Flight-Type, and Knuckles here is super-strong, so we call him a Power-Type."

"Which Type are you, Rotor?" asked Tails.

"Well, I'm a walrus, so I consider myself to be a Swim-Type. I guess… Actually, I do very little fighting." At this comment, he seemed to blush with embarrassment.

"We could always use a swimmer," smiled Sally reassuringly. "After all, one of the Seven Kingdoms is completely submerged underwater. We call it the Aquatica Kingdom." She paused before adding, "I guess you could call me a Speed-Type too, Sonic. The Sol Emerald I carry gives me special abilities, such as lightning speed."

"Awesome," smiled the blue hedgehog. "What other Types do you guys have?"

"Well," explained the squirrel, "we have Stealth-Types, who basically move like ninjas across the field."

"Sounds like me," grinned Shadow nearby.

"And then we have Weapon-Types like Antoine here, because he replies mainly on his sword."

Amy heard this and spoke up. "I have a magic hammer, I guess that makes me a Weapons-Type."

Then Knuckles asked Sally in a secretive whisper, "Which Type is Julie-Su?"

"Stealth… Why do you ask?"

"No reason," he blushed slightly.

"There's also a Heal-Type, but they're very rare I'm afraid," frowned Sally. "Only a Healer could use a Sol emerald to undo the effects of Robotization- that's when Robotnik uses his Sol-powered machine to turn one of us into a robot slave."

Sonic and friends sighed with worry. Tails then asked, "How do you find a Healer?"

"The Sol Emerald chooses one," explained Sally. She then glanced over to her half-roboticized friend Bunnie. "If we could only…"

"Hold on there, Sally-gal," spoke up the yellow rabbit. "Ah'm okay with mah legs n' arm; they suit me jest fine."

"But Bunnie-"

"No buts, girlfriend. This arm an' these here legs make me a Power-Type, so Ah'm okay with that. Besides, Ah like to represent mah fellow robot-folks. Know what Ah mean?"

"That's very brave of you," admired Amy. "You think you and I could team up in battle, Bunnie?"

"Sure thing, sugah!" she winked.

Then Julie-Su stood up and announced, "I'll keep watch in the tower, just in case."

"Want somebody to go with you?" asked Knuckles, standing up.

"No. I know my way there." She was quick to make her exit.

Shadow, leaning on a tree trunk nearby, smirked at him. "Nice move, loverboy."

"Hey, you stay out of this," growled Knuckles with a raised fist.

"I need to go check out the terrain anyway," muttered the black hedgehog. **"Chaos Control." **And with that, he phased out of sight.

"Wow, even in_ this_ world he can do that," awed Amy.

"It might have something to do with Sally's emerald," guessed Sonic. "Hey Sal, speaking of which, how did you get it? Did Blaze give it to you?"

Sally then placed her right hand over her heart and released a purple glowing stone from within, presenting her Sol Emerald. "Well, you can say that. It was a gift from her to the royal family of Acorn, and I've been entrusted with it…"

"It's so pretty!" exclaimed Amy with a big smile. "I wish I could hold it…"

"Here, Amy. Try it out," offered Sally all of a sudden.

"W-wait! Are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure, I trust you." She then held out the purple stone.

Amy carefully scooped up the purple Sol Emerald, and in reaction, its purple aura covered her in a halo for a brief moment. "Wow… I feel so empowered!" she exclaimed.

The Freedom Fighters all stared in wonder at her, while Sally saw this as a new development- just the kind she had been waiting for. "Amy…! You have the Healer's Touch!"

The pink hedgehog gasped in surprise. "I… I do? How do you know?"

Sally stood up and exclaimed happily, "I know that light; I've seen it once before with one of my fellow Guardians. You've been chosen to be a Heal-Type!"

"And," added Bunnie, "you can now use that emerald to Release our roboticized friends!"

Amy took a step back, her mouth gaping and hands shivering. "Uh… Uh, I- I dunno what to say. I…"

Sally's tone turned from bubbly to sincere. "There's only one way to be sure. Follow me, Amy."

Amy let out a small nervous gulp before complying with Sally. Her friends followed right behind her as they marched away from the campfire.

…

Sally opened the door to a small hut in the village, leading her troop into its near-empty quarters. Sonic and company were stunned to find the body of a silvery-grey figure lying on a couch, frozen stiff. It was a female figure, with small round ears and a long thin tail, and a thin layer of metal crowning her head as though it were hair.

Sally explained aloud, "This is what happens to us when we're enslaved by Robotnik. As you can see, she's not exavtly a Badnik, but a fully-metallic version of her former self. My team and I managed to get her out of his city, but not before she lost her willpower. I've tried many time to Release her myself, but the emerald just won't let me." She then turned to Am with a stern look in her eyes. "The emerald wants you to do it, Amy."

"But… wh-why me?"

"Please, just try. For_ her_ sake."

Amy didn't want to argue with the team leader, especially after seeing the lifeless body on the couch. She looked down at the small purple stone cupped in her hands. "…I… I'll try."

Sally moved away so that Amy could stand right next to the robot girl. Amy then gulped, "W-what do I say?"

"Just say what's in your heart," replied Sally.

"You can do it, Amy," reassured Sonic behind her, with a thumbs-up.

Hearing his voice, she nodded with a small smile. "Okay…" She then looked down on the lifeless creature, and held out the Sol Emerald. She then bowed her head in prayer: "…Oh, mighty Sol Emerald, hear my prayer: Unleash your power and free this poor soul from her metal state. In the name of Chaos and Balance… **Release**!"

A bright purple light filled the room, making everyone else shield their eyes. The robotic figure was swallowed by the light, and then in a quick flash, it literally smashed itself and her metal form into billions of pieces before disintegrating. In place of the metal was yellow fur, purple hair, a black tank-top, brown shorts, black fingerless gloves and long black boots.

**- YOU'VE RELEASED: MINA MONGOOSE! -**

Her eyes fluttered for the first time in ages. "NO! I DON'T WANNA BE A ROBOT! I DON'T… Wha…? Wh-where am I?"

Overcome with joy, Sally wrapped her arms around the pink hedgehog. "You did it, you healed her!"

Amy smiled, gasping for air after holding it for a few seconds. "Wow… Thanks! I, I didn't know I had it in me!"

Sonic then patted her back and congratulated her; "You did good, Amy. Real good."

"Aww, thanks Sonikuu."

The yellow mongoose was still dazed; she sat up on the couch and gasped, "What's going on? Who are you people?"

Sally turned to her with a warm and welcome smile. "It's okay, you're with friends now. I'm Sally, and these are the Freedom Fighters."

"Sally… Sally Acorn? Of the Acorn family!"

The redheaded squirrel's eyes bulged in surprise. "…uh…"

The young female mongoose then jumped off the couch and humbly genuflected in front of her. "Your majesty! It's such an honor and privilege to be"

"Nonononononono! You're confusing me with someone else!" Sally glanced over to the confused looks on Sonic and company. "I'm… I'm not the princess, honest. I'm just a friend."

The young mongoose looked up at her again. "But you look just like her… Oh! Your tail! Your beautiful tail, what happened to it?"

"I had it docked," confessed the princess. "…It kept getting in the way of my combat training."

"You're a princess?" uttered a stunned Sonic.

Sally's eyes clinched shut; she felt quite embarrassed for her friends. "Ehh… Look, I'm not exactly a princess anymore. It's a long story. I'll explain it later."

"Explain it _now_," demanded Knuckles, who was looking a bit impatient.

Sally opened her mouth, but before anything could come out, suddenly an alarm went off outside. It sounded like the same one that went off during the battle earlier that day.

"LEGIONNAIRES!" called Julie-Su's voice from outside. "LEGIONNAIRES ARE ATTACKING!"

Sally gasped and turned to the fighters by her side. "The Dark Legion, they found us! Hurry, to arms!"

She and Antoine stormed out of the hut before Sonic and the others could react.

Sonic then noticed the young mongoose girl shivering with fear. He then turned to Tails and Knuckles; "Let's help out," was all he had to say.

As the boys followed after the princess and the knight, Amy stayed behind with the fearful mongoose.

…

Outside, the trees were being pushed to and fro by the force of a gale wind brought on by a giant helicopter. It hovered just over the village with spotlights zooming around to capture the sight of Freedom Fighters. Sally and company came out into the open, just as a spotlight hit them.

From the opened hatch of the chopper stood a red female echidna dressed in all black with curly front dreadlocks. Her binoculars focused in on the redheaded princess. She grinned with her mouth full of fangs. "I knew it… I_ knew_ she was still alive! Legionnaires, attack!"

On her command, ten echidnas in various shades of red and orange jumped out of the helicraft and landed on the ground. They were armed with laser guns, and like Julie-Su they had shiny silver 'locks to go with their natural quills. Most of them also had red robotic eyes, either on their left side or their right, and all were dressed in black attire.

Upon seeing them Knuckles paused in awe. "More echidnas!"

"Get down, you fool!" yelled Julie-Su, as she tackled him to the ground before he had been shot by a laser beam.

Antoine and Bunnie led the charge against the cyborg echidnas, followed closely behind by Sonic and Tails. The fox hoisted the blue hedgehog into the air and launched him at two enemies, as he curled into a spiky ball. He rolled over them like a bowling ball to pins.

"Alez!" cried out Antoine, thrusting his sword at another Legionnaire. The enemy had a sword too, only his was attached to his right arm.

Bunnie lifted one echidna and tossed her into a tree, breaking it in half. The echidna was hardly injured, as her whole torso was robotic.

Sally darted into a brush and came out with a golden bo-staff and used it against two male echidnas armed with clubs. Her flexibility proved to be more than a match for them as she moved like a samurai.

Julie-Su looked up at the black-clad leader on the helicopter; her eyes narrowed fiercely. "Lein-Da."

"Julie-Su!" responded the femme fatale with a toothy grin. "So nice to see you again, sister dear."

"…Sister?" gasped the nearby Knuckles. This distracted him long enough for a Legionnaire to knock him on his back from behind.

"How did you find us!" growled Julie-Su to her sister.

"It wasn't hard," gloated Lein-Da. "We knew you'd come and rescue that poor little mongoose-girl, so we attached a tracking device on her arm." She then looked over to Sally, who took to Julie-Su's side. "Ah, princess! So nice to see you're still here with us. We'll be taking your Sol Emerald now."

Sally raised her bo-staff high in defiance; "Come and get it, bitch!"

"Legionnaires, regroup!"

Obeying their Mistress' orders, the ten beaten but not down cyborgs formed a line in front of their adversaries.

…

Meanwhile, within the hut, Amy stood by Mina who was now curled in a corner, muttering, "I don't wanna be a slave, I don't wanna be a slave, I don't wanna be a slave…"

Then Amy had an epiphany; "Wait a minute! Healer-Types could still fight, can't they?"

"Uh… I guess so," peeped the mongoose.

The pink hedgehog then whipped out her mallet from out of nowhere. "Stand back!"

…

**BOOM!**

The hut's door flew open in pieces, and Amy came flying out in full force with her giant mallet, screaming at the top of her lungs.

The Legionnaires all gasped in awe at the fluff of pink charging at them. Amy hammered the first one in line, and the rest of them scattered. This gave the other Freedom Fighters the opportunity to join in while the enemies were caught off guard.

Disappointed in her team, Lein-Da called out, "Fight back, you cowards!"

"_You_ fight!" called out Julie-Su from halfway up a tree. She aimed her small gun at her sister, but Lein-Da just laughed at her.

"Hahahahaha! Oh, you had such potential, little Julie; it's so sad you decided to betray us." She then held out a small box with a red button on it, and pushed it.

**FOOM!**

The helicopter fired two giant rockets at the nearby tree huts, setting them ablaze. Lein-Da called out to Julie-Su, "Now you can burn with your new friends! HA-hahahaha! Legionnaires, retreat!"

The grounded cyber-echidnas mysteriously vanished into thin air, leaving the Freedom Fighters to run from the fires.

Sally called out in alarm, "Everyone, evacuate the village! Evacuate!"

Sonic was first in line to pick up the smaller creatures, including Mina, and carry them to safety; Tails carried a few in the air, as did Bunnie with rocket boosters on her metallic feet. The rest of them grabbed whomever they could and took off in the opposite direction of the forest fire.

It seemed they had both won and lost that night; all were saved, but Knothole Village was soon no more.

…

By dawn, the Freedom Fighters had wandered out of the woods and into a vast open plain where a dirt road cut between the fields.

"…Farm Valley," sighed the former princess Sally. "This road will take us to Acorn Palace; I only hope we get there before the Dark Legion does."

By now, Knuckles had come to an understanding that these Legionnaires, his kin, were on Robotnik's side. Worse yet, their assumed leader was related to his new crush. But despite this revelation, he still walked beside her through the night and into the dawn. "…Julie-Su?" he peeped, catching her attention. "…Are you okay?"

She huffed as she dusted off some ash on her tank top. "I'm fine, nothing a little bath won't cure."

"I'm… I'm sorry about your sister."

"Don't be, she chose her own path. They all did…"

"It's just a shame… I mean, to fight against your own kin."

"Just forget about it, Knuckles, it's fine." Even now, she reserved her true feelings from him, making him turn away with a sad sigh. Then, for once, she looked back at him and realized that his feelings were hurt. "…but…" she uttered, "thanks for the help back there anyway."

The red echidna looked up at her with a meek smile. "You're welcome."

Meanwhile, Sally walked beside Sonic onto the dirt road. "I'm really sorry about keeping m identity a secret; it was just so that I wouldn't endanger my friends."

"It's cool, Sal. I understand," smiled the blue hedgehog. "Must be nice though, to finally go back home to your palace. I'll bet you'll get a real royal welcome."

Sally glanced up at the blue sky with an unsure look on her face. "Yeah… I'll get a welcome, alright…"

…

**LOADING ZONE...**


	6. FARM VALLEY ZONE: TechTeam

**6. "Buying the Farm"**

It was close to noontime when the Freedom Fighters settled down in a cabin village in Farm Valley Zone. Most of the civilian fighters decided to stay there until they had the resources needed to move on. But the war was far from over for Sally's team, as well as Sonic's.

Mina Mongoose said her thanks and goodbyes to her rescuers; "I'll make sure word gets out of your bravery," she promised as she shook Sally's hand. "Good luck to all of you."

"And you too, Mina," nodded the wayward princess.

As the yellow she-mongoose left them, Sally and Sonic turned back to their friends Rotor and Tails, who were busy in a garage with their first project together.

The walrus and the fox had gathered up parts from Badniks from the forest and forged them onto two car-like vehicles; one was painted forest green and fashioned with a giant drill in its front, reminiscent of a certain 'mobile from _"Sonic 2."_ The second was mostly silver, with jet wings on its sides and a propeller in the front to act as thrust for when it would perform high jumps.

Rotor was under the hood of the forest green vehicle, double-checking its engine. He was already covered in oil and grime, but only wiped the sweat from his brow when finished. "There… That aught'a hold," he smiled.

Sonic smiled at their progress; "Wow, you guys finished those cars already? You're like a miniature assembly line."

Tails motioned to the silver car, "Glad you like 'em, bro. We call this one Scratch." He then pointed to the forest green one with the drill for a hubcap; "And that one's Grounder."

Knuckles entered the garage to observe the vehicles for himself. "Hmm… Where are the seats for the rest of us?" he observed.

"Oh," replied Rotor, "I'll be installing launch chutes in the back. This way if we run into any Badniks on the way, we can launch you guys at them."

Knuckles frowned, seemingly taken aback. "Wait, wait. You mean you're gonna make us curl up into little cylinders and then shoot us out like cannons?"

"…uh…Yeah?"

"….Cool."

"We better get started on that right away," said Tails to Rotor.

The walrus gave his little work partner a thumbs up; "You got it, kiddo. Hey Knux, you mind helping me lift those chutes over in the back of the cabin?"

"Sure," shrugged the echidna.

Sonic then started to walk off, back to the outside where Amy and Sally were talking.

"Well," he frowned, "it looks like the cars won't be ready for another hour or so."

"That's fine," shrugged Sally.

He raised an impatient eyebrow to her. "What, you wanna stay here and do nothing while there are plenty of Badniks out there to pounce?"

"We need to rest up, and besides we can't just go out there without a plan of action."

"Okay, here's your plan of action: I jump on them, and they break! Sound good?"

"Ugh!" Sally then turned to Amy. "Is he always this impulsive?"

"Pretty much," smiled the bubblegum-pink hedgehog.

"Fine," sighed Sally to Sonic, "You can go exploring, but stay within the valley so that you don't get lost."

"I don't get lost, Sal."

"Sally."

"Whatever. You ladies sit tight, I'll B.R.B." And with that, he zipped off in a blue blur.

Sally crossed her arms and frowned, "'_You ladies_.' Puh. What do you suppose he meant by that?"

"Aw, don't worry about him, Sonic just has his way of making sure we don't get hurt."

"If he thinks I'm worried about a little scrapes and bruises, he's talking to the wrong princess."

"Well, don't get me wrong, Sally, but he is the fastest thing alive, and if anybody can outrun those Badniks and SWAT-bots, it's…"

In a flash of red, Sally was off running after Sonic, leaving a stunned Amy in the dust.

"It's…. it's, uh… oh…!" she finished her sentence.

…

As Sonic flew by the green lush plains of the valley, imagine his surprise when suddenly, an equally fleet-footed Princess Sally caught up with him! She ran to his side and gave him a rather cocky smile, much like one he would give.

But rather be offended, Sonic gave her a nod as though accepting a challenge. And no, two streaks- one red, one blue- went off racing into the horizon, leaving trails of fire and dust in their wake.

…

**- FARM VALLEY ZONE -**

**TECH-TEAM:**

**Tails (Flight-Type) and Rotor (Swim-Type)**

By the midday, the Scratch and Grounder 'mobiles were ready. Tails jumped into the Scratch mobile, which was built to be half-helicopter, while Rotor jumped behind the wheel of the drill-powered Grounder-mobile.

Knuckles and Amy curled up and tucked themselves into two giant cylinders in the back of the Scratch, while Bunnie and Antoine did the same for the Grounder's tank-like cylinders.

Trailing behind them would be Julie-Su, riding a scooter and armed with a shotgun-like weapon to shoot down any enemy that would dare chase down the teams on their road toward Acorn Palace.

With the turn of two keys, the engines howled and exhausted smoke. Off they rolled.

**- ACT I -**

The valley's main road was finely paved in stone, but there were plenty of fields full of haystacks and bushes with Rings hiding within them. Tails led the way on the main road on the Scratch while Rotor's Grounder was better equipped to go off-road. But either one would have to compete with Badniks, including the motorcycle-built Rhinobot, the four-wheeled Blasters with cannons for noses, and the swarming Butterdroids and Dragonflies. They would also have to watch out for the chicken-shaped Cluckoids that placed themselves atop random log cabins, disguised as wind chimes.

"Here we go!" announced Tails, as he revved up the vehicle. He burned rubber on the paved road, kicking up dust in his wake. His vehicle was a bit smaller than Rotor's, and so it picked up much more speed. It also managed to jump a bit, thanks to built-in thrusters. With one small hop after another, he managed to snag a couple Rings on the road…

**Ring Count: 6… 12… 18**

"Woo-hoo!" he cheered.

When it came to sharp turns, however, the Scratch was slightly hard to control, as Tails would find out after snagging his twelfth Ring. He veered to the left, but caught a bit of grass off-road before managing to get back on track. That's when the Rhinobots came charging.

They jumped out of the tall grass and tried to ram the vehicle, but Tails maneuvered around them. They were persistent little motorbikes, but one jump managed to flatten one.

Butterdroids came darting down from the sky after the Rhinobots were cleared. They were coming straight at the Scratch, and so Tails hit a button that fired the Knuckles cannon.

Knuckles came bowling out of his cannon and slammed his fists into two Butterdroids before gliding back to the Scratch and recoil into the cannon.

When another Butterdroid tried to tail them, Tails hit a second button that launched Am out of the second cannon. She hurled herself at the Badnik like a cannonball, then uncoiled to smack it with her hammer. She was then pulled back by a bungie chord tied around her leg.

Everything was going well, until Tails came across his first barrier: a stone wall in the middle of the road which blocked off a small river. He tried jumping over it, but couldn't clear it.

"Tag me!" called out Rotor from behind; this was the cue for Rotor to take the lead.

Tails pulled back, and the Grounder took center stage. With its massive drill, it easily broke through the stone barrier and crossed the river with fair ease. However, there were small shark-like Snappers in the river, and one chomped down of the Grounder.

**Ring Count: 0**

"Dang it," cussed Rotor.

Still taking the lead, Rotor drove the Grounder off-road to collect Rings hiding in tall grass and haystacks. He was careful to avoid detection from Rhinobots and Blasters, also hiding in the tall grass.

**Ring Count: 3… 6… 11**

"Tag me! I can go faster!" called out Tails from behind.

"You're on, kid!"

Tails regained the lead, and scooted his vehicle back on the road and went full-throttle. More Rings were to he snagged, and having Rotor and Julie-Su stay back to take care of the chasing Blasters and Rhinobots made the drive all the easier.

**Ring Count: 25… 30… 40**

Another stone barrier was coming, but this one had a ramp set before it. This gave the Scratch mobile the boost it would need to clear the river, and even snatch some Rings in the air.

**Ring Count: 48**

A few Dragonflies were coming his way, so Tails once again launched Knuckles and Amy into the air.

"Lemmie at 'em!" called out Amy, before swinging her hammer in mid-air.

"Bring it on!" growled Knuckles upon his launch.

Both allies cleared the air of Badniks, but there was still plenty of valley to cover.

"Tag me," pleaded Rotor from behind.

Tails obliged, and Rotor once again took the lead. He cleared two more barriers and crossed a small ditch, making the trek easier on all team members.

**Ring Count: 79**

"Keep 'em coming," smiled Rotor upon earning the latest set of Rings from the ditch and road.

Then they came to a small village, where more Badniks were lurking. Rhinobots came straight at the Grounder, and so Rotor unleashed his secret weapons from within his cannons.

"Hyah!" cried out Bunnie, punching through a Rhinobot with her one robotic fist.

"Surprise!" laughed Antoine, chopping up another Rhinobot with his cutlass.

Rotor paused his machine to let his friends jump back into their cannon-like cylinders before driving onward.

Suddenly, a cabin burst wide open, revealing a set of Blasters that were hiding within. Rotor's Grounder managed to run over two, but one managed to hit him with a laser ball.

**Ring Count: 0**

"Nuts!" shouted the disappointed walrus.

"I got it!" called out Tails, taking the lead.

The Scratch jumped around and on top of the rest of the Badniks, earning some of the Rings that the Grounder had lost.

**Ring Count: 15**

"Let's take this one the road," declared the little fox, steering his vehicle onto the main road once more. The Badniks started to chase him down, but he proved to be much faster than them. He allowed Rotor and Julie-Su to take out the chasers, while Tails focused more on the flying Badniks up ahead.

"Let 'er rip!" shouted Knuckles, as he once again sprung into action- literally. He punched out two Dragonflies before jumping back into Scratch's left cannon.

Scratch was now picking up speed, going now at nearly fifty miles per hour. Tails had to hold the wheel steady while the Rings started to come from all sides, and during one sharp turn after another.

**Ring Count: 15… 25… 35… 45… 50**

"Full throttle!" he shouted; the fifty Ring count proved to give the Scratch enough power to fly on its own now, without the need of ramps. It finally cleared the next stone barrier, straight above the jumping Snappers.

More Butterdroids came at him from above, but now he was going too fast even for them. Then, at last, one giant ramp was waiting at the end of the road. When he charged across it, Tails turned on Scratch's front propeller, making it fly for a few short seconds. This allowed him to grab even more Rings, before at last the first Act's checkpoint was crashed through. That's when Tails' vehicle came to a screeching halt, followed by Grounder's.

"Yeah, let's do it again!" cheered Tails in victory.

**- ACT I CLEARED! -**

**Ring Count: 75**

**Power Points: 103.5**

**Rank: B (Good)**

**- ACT II -**

A new road awaited them; this one was clearly leading to a great rock pass on the other side of the plain. Tails led the way, revving up the Scratch's engine.

"Here we go!"

**VROOM!**

There were now rocks on the road; the small ones that came first were easily cleared, but eventually there came bigger ones. By the time he reached his twentieth mile, Tails came to an almost complete stop thanks to giant rocks on the road. This was perhaps brought on by a battle, or a rockslide from the cliffs nearby.

**Ring Count: 25**

"Tag me!" called Rotor from behind, and he took the lead.

Grounder's drill pulverized the rocks in his path, and he regained the road. But his vehicle was slower than Tails', and was attacked by more wheeled Badniks, which now included Burrobots that would shoot straight out from the ground! And like the Grounder, they too had drills on their faces.

The first Burrobot encounter came not too long after Rotor cleared his first barrier of rocks; it jumped right up from under him, taking his Rings.

**Ring Count: 0**

"Grrr!" Rotor growled under his breath, pummeling the Burrobot with his massive drill.

Then he had an idea; he could let his friends detect the Burrobots before they came jumping at him. He spun the vehicle toward the edge of the road, and activated Antione's spring. As he flew past them, the underground Burrobots jumped out in alarm.

"Gotcha," grinned the sly walrus, as he charged at them. One by one, they fell under the Grounder's weight.

As Rotor continued his pursuit of the hidden Badniks, Tails looked to the air to spot flying enemies. Sure enough, the air was still littered with Butterdroids and Dragonflies. He decided to stop following Rotor's lead and go solo for a minute; Tails went off-road and launched Amy and Knuckles, one after the other, and let them hit the flying robots before they came near the Scratch or Grounder vehicles.

**Ring Count: 10… 15… 25… 37**

Rings became easier to find, now that Rotor and Tails had a strategy to their drive. Tails caught the most, with his speedy off-roading, while rotor kept the road clear by drilling and pouncing on Burrobots.

The baddies seemed to disappear, however, when at last the vehicles came to the cavernous pass. "Tag me," said Tails, as he took the lead. He found himself wedged between two mountains, with rocks falling every which way. He was careful not to hit most, but eventually, a boulder would crash into his vehicle.

**Ring Count: 0**

"I got this one!" claimed Rotor, as he managed to pass Tails' machine to gain the lead.

Rotor knew that the best way to deal with falling boulders was to attack them with the drill and his cannonball friends. Antoine and Bunnie both took their turns pounding out rocks that threatened to flatten their ride. And there were still plenty of Rings to be had, despite the twisty turns and blockades.

**Ring Count: 5… 10… 12… 19… 25**

"Keep 'em coming!" shouted rotor, as he slowly but surely gained control of the road.

But then a boulder, one greater than any they had faced yet, was clearly heading their way by means of a rockslide. This would prove to be much too difficult to drill through…

Tails used his head quickly and shouted, "TEAM-UP!"

With a click of a few set buttons, the team unleashed their special Team-Up move. The Scratch leaped into the air and bent its wings to grab onto the Grounder, and spun its propeller as fast as it ever could. The little heli-car hovered just barely over the crashing rock with the drill-tank in tow; as it skidded across the rock's top, Grounder revved its engine and pushed itself- and Scratch- forward. Together, they slid off the dooming boulder with ease.

"Yeah!" cheered rotor as his vehicle touched ground. "Great thinking, kiddo!"

"Thanks!" smiled the proud Tails.

As that was their last great challenge, the team found its way toward a bright light at the end of the cavern, picking up speed as the last small rocks barely touched them on their way out.

**- ACT II CLEARED! -**

**Ring Count: 42**

**Power Points: 124**

**Rank: B+ (Good!)**

"Whew," sighed Rotor as he drove out of the rocky pass, "that was some ride…"

"Remind me to avoid this place next time," replied Tails.

…

Meanwhile, atop the cliffs, Sally and Sonic were still chasing each other, both shuffling their feet at lightning speed.

"How are you doing this!" Sonic finally asked.

His rival smiled, "What, did you forget I have a Sol Emerald? I told you it gave me super-speed!"

The blue hedgehog gasped, "I knew it made you fast… but not_ that_ fast!"

"Well now, I guess being a lady doesn't make me so weak anymore, does it?"

**ZAP!**

"Augh!" Sally was knocked onto her back by a laser beam just then.

"Sal!" gasped Sonic in horror. He skidded to a halt to see that two SWAT-bots aboard hovercrafts were chasing them from above. Somehow they had managed to target Sally despite how fast she was going.

Angered, Sonic did a Homing-Dash toward them; after taking a flying leap, he spun into a ball and gravitated himself toward the first of two 'bots. He smashed the one, but the other fired back at him with a laser gun. He had just missed the shot as he landed onto the ground.

The SWAT-bot was ready to fire at him again, when a golden bo-staff was flung at it and skewered its mid-section. It fizzed into a shock of electricity before crashing down.

Sonic then paused to see Sally, holding her middle with one arm while the other had just thrown the bo-staff. She then laid back down on the ground, clearly pained.

"Sal," gasped Sonic, who ran to her side. "…Are you okay, princess?"

The redhead grimaced before glaring up at him. "Ugh… That jerk… got lucky."

"You're hurt, aren't you?"

"It's nothing," she winced as she picked herself up off the sandy ground. "…J-just a scratch, that's all." She then doubled over before Sonic could catch her.

He then sighed, "I was afraid this would happen; that's why I told you to sit tight back there."

Again, she grimaced. "Hey, I may be a princess, but that doesn't mean I'm delicate. I've been training for fights like these, Sonic the Hedgehog."

He then gave her a slight smile; "Heh. I can respect that."

She then swallowed her pride long enough to smile back and let him lift her back onto her feet.

Together, they walked over to the edge of the cliff to catch a view of Acorn Palace sitting comfortably atop a small hill in the distance. They took pause in wonder at their achievement; so far, they had made it in one piece to their destination. …So far.

…

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	7. The Prodigal Daughter

**7. "The Prodigal Daughter"**

…

**Robotropolis Kingdom.**

A once pleasant human-occupied city/state, formerly dubbed Mobotropolis; now, shrouded in darkness in the wake of Robotnik's hostile takeover. The land had fallen shortly after he, the mad scientist, captured and roboticized the true President of the city/state. Now he had the President's power, and his red Sol Emerald.

But it just wasn't enough. He wanted them _all._

While sitting upon his throne, the mad doctor listened intently on the status report delivered to him by his one entrusted ally, an equally mad doctor of an albino echidna, Dr. Finitevus. The grayish-furred creature with the black eyes with glowing golden irises, draped in a black robe and donning black and gold bands on his arms and legs, topped with mummified hands and feet, addressed his commander on bended knee.

"My liege, we have news from the Acorn Kingdom: It seems that the princess Sally is alive and well, and leader of the resistance in that kingdom. They dub themselves Freedom Fighters. My mistress Lein-Da found them in the Knothole forest and attacked, leaving their camp in ruins."

But the human on the throne seemed most displeased. He impatiently tapped his iron fingers on the arms of his chair. "…You let her escape."

"We've managed to smoke her out, your worship! She and her band of rebels are on the run."

"You let her escape."

"She is most likely to run toward her castle in-"

"YOU LET HER ESCAPE!" **SLAM!** went his iron fists on the chair arms, nearly denting them.

Taken aback, Dr. Finitevus dropped his smile. "M-my liege, this is just a minor setback! The princess is surely going to flee straight to her castle, where we will be waiting for her!"

The oversized human with the long white mustache and burning red eyes somehow managed to lift himself up from his throne. He turned away from his ally and lumbered slowly to his gigantic computer monitor on a wall.

"Finitevus," he moaned softly, "I don't ask for much. All I want are the Sol Emeralds, and I've been told by many reliable sources- you included- that the purple emerald is being kept by the Acorn princess."

"Yes, my leader, I believe it still is."

"And yet, she still evades me even after your troops have found her. ARE YOU ECHIDNAS GOOD FOR ANYTHING!"

"Sir, it was only a scouting party that followed the tracking device we put on the mongoose girl. Now that we know for sure that she lives, I will send the whole troop to her castle and take the emerald by force."

Robotnik slumped over his computer laptop and sighed. "Oh… Those simple-minded creatures. Why are they still living among us higher beings, Finitevus? Why do the powers that be taunt me with their pitiful existence?"

"…Sir?"

"Why must I be the one who must perfect everything? Why me, alone? It's not so easy, you know… So many insignificant beings… So many to perfect with my brilliant designs."

"Sir, I understand your plight. We of the Dark Legion have dabbled into robotics almost as passionately as you do. Allow us to prove ourselves to you once and for all."

The giant man whirled himself around to face the albino animal with those awful red eyes. "THEY HAD BETTER NOT FAIL ME THIS TIME! One chance… Just one chance at that castle, that's all I'm giving you! After that, you're on your own. Do you hear me!"

"I understand, my liege. It shall be done." Finitevus kept his cool by genuflecting and walking out of the darkened room without even a flinch of fear.

This impressed even Shadow the Hedgehog, who was hiding in the airlock and eavesdropping on the conversation. He had managed to sneak in with the power of Chaos Control, if only to see for himself just what this Robotnik character was all about.

Now that he knew… he let out a small, humble shiver. Then he vanished.

…

**Acorn Palace Zone, Acorn Kingdom.**

Sonic and Sally were resting by a small moat that surrounded the castle's hill while their friends were driving toward them. With the back of her light blue vest singed and torn, Sonic took a moment to help clean her back wounds with leaves damped by water.

"There now, feel better?" he asked soflty as he placed a makeshift leaf bandage on her back.

"Yeah, that feels great," smiled Sally. "Where'd you learn to use herbal leaves?"

"Well, Tails and I had a few bouts back in our world with Eggman, and we kinda taught ourselves this sort of thing."

"He's very brave for his age."

"Tails? Heh, yeah, he's a tough one. Takes after me, I guess."

"And Amy… How old is she?"

"Thirteen, but don't remind her of that. She'll just get all huffy and threaten you with her hammer."

"And you?"

"I'm sixteen."

"Ah, I figured."

"What's that mean?"

"I'm just saying, you act your age."

"Oh… thanks?" He wasn't sure if she was complementing him or insulting him. Either way, Sally let out a small giggle.

"I'm sixteen, too."

"Ah, wow. I thought you were older, like twenty."

"Well, I guess it's just m upbringing. I didn't have much of a fun childhood; always learning about the laws and queenly etiquette, and I was never allowed to play with the 'common' kids."

"Sheesh! What happened if you ever got your dress muddy?"

"Oh, my mom would have such a fit!" She started to laugh. "One time I did it on purpose, just to see her reaction, and boy she did not disappoint."

Sonic joined in the giggling. "…You must've been hell to raise."

"No moreso than you, I imagine." Sally then elbowed his arm gently. "I mean, you seem to come off as this know-it-all daredevil-type guy."

"Yeah, that's just m upbringing I guess… Nah, that's a lie. I never listened to my parents." Then he mimicked his mother's girly voice: " Sonic, slow down! Sonic, don't touch that! Where were you, young hedgehog? Sonic, are you doing your homework? Don't make me come up there!'"

"Ho-ho, boy! Talk about raising hell; you were the devil incarnate!"

They both laughed for a minute before Sonic's giggles died down. "..Yeah… Those were good times."

"…So, how are they now?"

"…My parents?"

"Mm-hmm."

The blue hedgehog's smile slowly faltered, and his ears drooped downward in sorrow. "They, uh… they're not… with me anymore…"

Then Sally got the message and dropped her smile. "They… died?"

"Yeah… It's kind of a long, and… kinda sad story. I- I don't-"

The princess suddenly rested her white gloved hand on his knee to stop him. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me."

His green eyes crawled up to reach her blues. "…I'll tell ya, when I'm ready."

"Hey, guys? You okay?" called out Tails' voice in the distance.

"Oh, hey! They made it!" Sonic jumped to his feet. And waved down the two oncoming tech-mobiles "Yo, guys! Over here!"

The Scratch and Grounder vehicles parked themselves by the side of the moat, just by the bridge that led to the white, red-roofed palace. The travelers exited their vehicles either from the driver seats or from inside the cannon chutes. They were all so excited to tell Sonic and Sally about their latest adventure…

"Princess!" gasped Antoine as he ran to her. "Have you injured yourself?"

"It's okay, Antoine, it's just a bruise," she assured him.

"Mon Dieu! If your father knew I let you run off into danger like zat…"

Sonic tapped his foot. "What're you, her bodyguard?"

The coyote shot him a cold look. "As a matter of fact, 'edge'og, I am!"

Sally threw herself in between them. "Guys, come on, let's not start; we still have to face my parents."

"You're right, Sally. I should go straight away to ze King myself," declared Antoine.

"Not wit'out me, yer not," protested Bunnie, grabbing the coyote's left arm. She then tilted her head at the others; "Come on, y'all, we can face the king n' queen t'gether."

"I appreciate this, you guys," frowned Sally, "but I really should speak to them in private… it's kind of a family issue."

"Well, we're right behind you Sal-Gal," nodded Bunnie.

Sally gave her a nod back, and led the march up the hill.

…

Getting into the palace was the easiest thing the travelers would have to do that day; it was wandering around the many halls and staircases that would have proven difficult, had Sally and Antoine not been there as guides. The newcomers were captivated by the luxurious state flags that dangled from the ceilings, the stained-glass windows, the royal red carpeting (with matching curtains, of course), and rows of suits of armor standing guard in each main hall.

But one knight who wasn't a statue at all stood outside the closed doors of the throne room; he was a tall and handsome skunk, donned in a royal blue suit with golden medals on his chest, and armed with a pike.

Upon seeing the travelers approaching, his blue eyes narrowed. "Who goes here? State yer names an' business wit' the king n' queen."

Sally grinned, "Geoffrey, it's me! Sally!"

Geoffrey St. John blinked in surprise. "…Sally? Iz that you, Shiela? Blimey! Aren't you a sight fer sore eyes, girl!" He set aside his weapon to give his long-lost princess a big, warm hug.

Sally then turned to her friends; "Everyone, this is Geoffrey St. John, Captain of the Royal Guard."

"G'daye!" he saluted them, and they saluted back- all except Antoine.

"Hmm," hummed the coyote, "I see you've made yourself quite at home here, skunk."

"Ah, Antoine. I'd like to say I missed yer snobby lil' kiester, but then I'd be lyin'."

Antoine glanced over at Bunnie; "Vee used to be rivals for ze captainship."

"Ah," she nodded.

"Ev'r since you left," explained the skunk captain, "I had no choice but to take over. But it is good to see the two o' you alive."

Sally's tone turned serious as she said, "My mother and father… are they in there?"

"Oh, of course! Wait, lemmie introduce you to them first." Geoffrey then creaked the big doors opened and slipped inside, shutting them behind him quickly. There was a pause before he came creeping back into the hallway.

Geoffrey's face seemed most concerned when he returned to the hall. "Sally, they'll see you now… Good luck."

She gulped and took a big breath before entering through the doors. Before Sonic and the others could catch up with her, Geoffrey quickly shut the doors on them.

"Sorry, mates; personal business in 'ere. But you can all wait out here if ya like."

"Not much of a choice, huh?" sighed Knuckles, as he sat down beside a pedestal to rest himself.

Sonic then tiptoed over to Geoffrey with Tails in tow. "…Can we at least listen in?" asked the hedgehog in a whisper.

"Wot part o' personal business don'tcha get, mate?"

"Aww, come on. Please?"

"With cherries on top?" added Tails.

"I'd get in serious trouble if I were to open the doors right now," replied Geoffrey; as he said this, however, his foot started to push open one of the doors very slowly. "Why, I might even lose my badges, or worse, get kicked outta the guard like some common bloke. Oh, woulda lookit that? The door's slightly open. 'Ere now, you wouldn't let a poor ol' skunk like me get in trouble now, would ya?"

Sonic understood the ploy and grinned, "Your secret's safe with me, mate." He and Tails leaned their ears toward the crack in the doorway to listen in secretly.

…

"Sally!" cheered the queen as she ran to her daughter with open arms. "You're alive! Oh, thank heavens you- Augh! What happened to your tail!"

"I had it docked, mom," confessed the wayward daughter. "It was part of m training."

"Training? For what?"

"I told you before, I've joined the resistance against Robotnik. Antoine's been my tutor, and so far we've had a lot of success."

Queen Alicia then turned her daughter around to observe the wound on her back. Sally cringed slightly; "Oh, that. D-don't worry Mom, it doesn't hurt. Really."

"Training, tail-docking, and now injury…" muttered the words of King Maximillian, as he remained sitting upon his throne. He gazed upon Sally as though she were a total stranger. "Have we taught you nothing, child?"

"You taught me," she replied, "to be strong for m people, and that's what I intend to do. I want to fight by their side, to let them know that we're there with them."

"Your brother is already fighting this war," her father coldly stated; "I don't see how your foolish stunts will deter Robotnik and his legions."

The queen then whispered, "Your father has a point, Sally. Maybe you should stay here with us for a while, at least until it's safe for you and your friends to-"

Sally pulled away and sighed, "We'll never be safe, Mom, not until Robotnik is stopped once and for all! Look, there's something you two need to know: I've made new friends out there in the woods. They come from a different world, but they're willing to help us."

"Let _them_ fight," exclaimed the king; "_Your _place is here in the palace!"

"But father."

"No buts, young lady! God forbid your brother falls out there, who will take his place as heir to the throne?"

"That's all you ever cared about!" huffed the princess.

Slightly offended herself, Alicia gasped, "Sally, watch your tone!"

"I'm sorry Mom, but this kingdom doesn't need our politics right now, it needs to be liberated. Half of our people have already been captured and roboticized; we must make them our top priority!"

The king then stood up. "Your top priority, child, is to keep safe that purple Sol Emerald… I trust you still have it?"

Sally placed her paw on her heart; "It's with me always."

"Do you really think we can allow you to run out there into danger while you still hold that precious stone! Sally, girl, if you insist on making yourself a living target for the enemy, then the least you could do is hand us that emerald!"

Sally paused to give it some thought, then protested, "No, father. This is just the place where Robotnik will be looking for it. If I keep moving, he won't know where it is."

The queen was clearly torn; she back away to give her daughter space, while glancing upward at her husband for answers.

The king then frowned, "Sally, this is your last warning. As your father, and as your king, I command you to surrender that emerald!"

…

Meanwhile, as the argument heated up, sonic and Tails remained by the doorway to listen in. They were so fixed on their listening, that they failed to notice a certain glove tapping their shoulders.

"Tails, stop tapping me," whispered Sonic."

"You stop," Tails whispered back.

"I'm not tapping you."

"Well, I'm not tapping you either."

"Then who…?" Sonic finally turned around, only to be looking straight into a pair of flaming red eyes surrounded by jet-black fur.

"Faker."

"GAH!" shouted an alarmed Sonic, nearly throwing himself through the palace doors and banged his head in the process. Tails quickly grabbed him before he could disturb the royal family, and picked him up on his feet. Then they both stared up at Shadow, who seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Don't. You. _Ever_. Do. That. _A-gain_!" fumed Sonic to his doppelganger.

Perhaps to amuse himself, Shadow mocked Sonic's exasperation: "Well. I. _Had_. To. Come. And. _Warn._ You!"

"Warn us?" gasped Tails.

"Listen," hushed Shadow. "I just got back from Robotropolis- By the way, I've seen Robotnik. Totally creepy; the guy makes Eggman look like Santa Claus."

"That bad, huh?" frowned Sonic nervously.

"It gets worse," warned Shadow; "They know we're here, and they're sending a troop of echidnas on airships to this very place."

"What? When?"

"They should be here any moment now."

"Well, we gotta warn everybody!" He turned to the palace doors and dared himself to knock on them.

…

A sudden knock of the closed doors caught the royal family off guard.

"Sir Geoffrey?" called the king.

Sonic squeezed his head through the gap in the doors. "…Y-your majesty?"

"Sonic," gasped Sally.

"Who are you!" growled the king.

Sonic opened the doorway a little more to let himself be seen; "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, and I've just gotten an alarming message."

"Take it up with the royal guard, stranger."

"But your majesty, it's important! Robotnik and the Legionnaires are coming!"

The king stood his ground. "The guards will handle it. Now be gone, trespasser!"

"It's alright Father," assured Sally, "he's my friend."

"Sal," gasped Sonic, "you gotta believe me! Robotnik's goons are coming this way. We have to get everybody out of here!"

Seeing as he was an honest person, Sally took the warning to heart. She turned to her king desperately; "Father, please. This is my chance to prove myself to you. We can fight the Dark Legion together."

"You'll do no such thing, young lady! GUARDS!"

Geoffrey St. John and Hershey the Cat came running in, armed with pikes.

The king commanded them, "A call to arms; let all of the knights know that we are on high alert. Let no one in this castle be without a weapon."

"Understood, yer majesty," replied Geoffrey with a bow. He and his partner then took off in a mad dash through the doors to sound the alarm.

Sally then ran to Sonic to say, "I don't care what m father says; I'm fighting with you."

"No complaints here, princess." He shook her hand in agreement. "Let's do it."

…

**- NEW TEAM! -**

**TEAM HURRICANE:**

**Sonic (Speed-Type) and Sally (Speed-Type)**

…

**LOADING ZONE…**


	8. ACORN PALACE ZONE: Team Hurricane

**8. "The Wrath of Knothole"**

…

**- ACORN PALACE ZONE -**

**Team Hurricane**

It didn't take long at all for seven airships loaded with echidna cyborgs to appear at the castle. It seemed like they appeared out of nowhere, but were in fact cloaked from plain sight by means of high-tech camouflage. They surrounded the rooftops and set loose dozens of ropes for the troops to swing down from.

The cyber-echidnas swung right into the stained-glass windows they were nearest to; the battle was on!

**- ACT I -**

"This is for Knothole!" proclaimed Sally as she took the lead after Sonic. In her right hand she held her bo-staff, ready to use it at any given moment. Her blue boots spun into a blurry frenzy, not unlike her hedgehog counterpart's, as she dashed through the hall and slid down the banister of a spiral staircase. Along the way, she snatched and absorbed sets of Rings.

**Ring Count: 10… 20… 25**

Sally was careful to avoid the windows, for that was where the attackers were coming from. But at the same time, she timed herself so that she would run straight into them, and when she did, she lashed out her bo at one echidna legionnaire after another. Only they didn't blow up like Badniks would; instead they just laid there where they fell in a daze. Neither Sally nor Sonic had time to finish them off; they were on the move.

"Tag me!" begged Sonic, and he took the lead.

Sonic flew across the threshold of the next room, where legionnaires were already waiting to pick a fight. Sonic did a slide-kick into the first one, knocking him on his feet, and quickly spun-kicked the echidna cyborg behind the first one.

Two more echidnas came crashing through the wall, firing lasers at the hedgehog, but he dodged them with ease. He did a Spin-Dash to one in his mid-section, and ricocheted into the second, stunning him. Sonic then spun-kicked that one onto his back, knocking him out cold. With each defeat, the legionnaires were magically teleported back to their airships outside.

He took off into a hallway where statues of suits of armor were lined left and right; there were Rings hidden in this room, and somehow Sonic knew that. He Spin-Dashed into the fist statue, knocking it from its hinges, and releasing five Rings.

**Ring Count: 30**

Again, he did the same move to two other statues…

**Ring Count: 40… 45**

But then the echidna cyborgs were tailing him, shooting laser guns. Sally was standing behind Sonic, and so she managed to block their attacks while her teammate raced on into a new room.

As Sonic sped into a room where there were more staircases, he heard Sally call out, "Head for the rooftops!"

He could already foresee her plan: with the legionnaires on the roof, they would not only be easier targets but would cease to damage the castle's interior. And so the blue blur jumped onto a springboard on the bottom of a staircase banister, and it shot him up the stairs like a slingshot.

Now on the second level, Sonic found that there were only two ways to go: left, or right. He chose left, and shot across the narrow hallway which was full of rings.

**Ring Count: 57… 69**

But then he realized that the hall was actually set up in a full circle formation, and that the only true way to go was further up.

"This way!" called out Sally, who signaled to her teammate to follow her into an open room. When he followed her, he came to a room where three more legionnaires were waiting, each armed with club-like weapons.

Sonic Spin-Dashed to one, but his attack was blocked by the opponent's club. The only other option he had was to jump on his head, which he did. The echidna went down, dropping its club. Then he disappeared.

The second echidna legionnaire tried to club Sonic from behind, but he saw it coming and jumped out of the way just in time. He then slid-kicked that echidna onto its back. Sally took care of the third one on her own, then Sonic followed her through another doorway.

"This way!"

Sally took the lead while the two speedsters jumped into a room that looked like a small dining room. There were three legionnaires on the long table, and jumped at them as they came close. Sally whacked them all onto their backs with her spinning bo-staff.

She then proceeded into another room, where a staircase was waiting. Like the first one, there was a springboard that would make her ascent even faster. She jumped onto it, and slid upward on the banister, coming into another narrow hallway full of Rings. She wasn't about to leave this hall empty-handed.

**Ring Count: 81… 93**

"Almost there," smiled the princess, realizing that she and Sonic were close to having 100 rings. She entered the only open room of this third floor, which appeared to be a bedroom. Again, three legionnaires came flying in through a window, only this time they were armed with swords.

Sally maneuvered herself around the first one that came swinging at her, and hit him in the back with her spinning staff.

"This one's mine!" called out Sonic, as a Tag request.

Sally tagged Sonic, and he quickly spun into a ball to bowl the remaining two opponents onto the floor.

"Nice!" he cheered, before dashing into the next room, this one full of maps of the world on the wall and a long table. This was, presumably, a war room.

Two legionnaires, armed with bombs, threw their ticking weapons at the heroes, but Sonic would not be hit. The bombs blew a hole in the wall, but there were no injuries to account for. Now that they were defenseless, the echidna cyborgs came swinging at Sonic with their silvery-steel fists. Sonic jumped on one's head, and then the other's.

This was almost too easy.

"Sonic, let me have a turn!" called Sally from behind. Sonic tagged her, and she led the charge into the next room.

The third room of this third level had a staircase like the last two, but this time it was heavily guarded by five echidna legionnaires. These opponents were using Caterkillers as whips, and lashed them toward their foes.

At first, Sally and Sonic hesitated, but then Sally stepped forward and started to carefully time their whiplashes. One… two… three… pause. One… two… three.

"Now!" She took a flying leap at the first echidna and drop-kicked him in the chest. The second managed to stun her with its Caterkiller…

**Ring Count: 0**

"Ugh," groaned Sally. But then she realized that Sonic was there to steal back some of the Rings, which he did.

**Ring Count: 15… 25… 30**

"Get 'em, Sal! I got the Rings!"

And so Sally went back to calculating the enemy attacks, and this time she flawlessly whacked them onto the ground and allowed the Caterkillers to explode.

"Come on," said the princess, as she jumped onto the staircase springboard and flew upward to the next level.

On this, the fourth level, 24 more Rings were waiting to be snagged. Sally wasted no time…

**Ring Count: 55**

Only one door remained, and Sonic was tagged in to Spin-Dash it open.

As he took like a bullet through the door, Sonic uncoiled himself to realize that he was now outside, on the balcony of the castle. Overlooking the scenery, he could see three of the seven airships hovering in the air, all of which were now firing cannons at him and Sally.

Hurriedly, the hedgehog ran across the ledge, dodging one cannon blast after another. And of course, there were Rings waiting along the way; he had to dash left, right, left and keep left to catch them all.

**Ring Count: 58… 61… 64… 67**

He then glanced downward, and could see that some of his friends had also made it to the rooftops and were also outrunning cannon fire. But they were on the other side of the building and were therefore of no help.

Along the walkway (or in Sonic's case, the _run_way), he could see the castle's banners catching fire along the walls. More echidna cyborgs were jumping out from the airships, and some even landed in Sonic's way. He Spin-Dashed right through them before they had a chance to attack, knocking them off the ledge.

Sonic's destination would be the highest tower, which had access by a long, twisting staircase. This would be a challenging part of the run, because SWAT-bots were landing on the stairs to cut his path. He had no choice but to stop running and fight.

"Tag me!" Sally demanded, and she took the lead.

Sally proved to be more agile a fighter than Sonic, as she could keep a sure foot while swinging her bo-staff. She needed three hits for each blocking SWAT-bot, but never missed her targets. First one, then a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth, and finally a sixth. There was just no stopping her.

Finally, she came to a halt at the very top of the tower, which for a brief moment seemed unoccupied. Then a giant airship lifted itself out of hiding, looking straight down at the princess. From its edge jumped five echidna cyborgs, all armed with laser cannons. They carried them like bazookas, and their firepower was just as extreme.

**FOOM!**

Purple lights beamed at Sally, but she tucked and rolled out of the way. She jumped back to her feet, and decided it was time to unleash a special Attack, at the cost of fifty Rings.

"LIGHTNING STAFF!"

Her golden bo-staff appeared to take the shape of a lightning bolt, and she threw it at her enemies like a thunder goddess.

**BOOM!**

One shot was all it took to disable and phase out three of the echidna legionnaires. The last two remained dazed.

"This one's mine!" claimed Sonic, as he made a Spin-Dash toward one of the echidnas. He pummeled the red and grey foe into submission, making him diappear, then slide-kicked the other onto the ground. He too vanished, presumably back to the airship to recover.

Sonic and Sally then jumped for joy in their victory, then high-fived each other.

"Woo-hoo, we did it!" exclaimed the princess.

"We make a good team!" Sonic smiled.

…

**- ACT I CLEARED! -**

**Total Rings: 17**

**Power Points: 1017**

**Rank: A (Great!)**

**- ACT II -**

The hovering airship then shot out a ramp at the edge of the tower, as though it were inviting the team to enter its interior.

**Cover Song: "Flying Battery Zone"**

Sonic saw this and claimed, "Let me handle this." He took off in a hurry, up the ramp and into the airship itself.

As though he were thrown back in time, the bluish-grey dullness of the steely airship's interior reminded Sonic of Flying Battery Zone. Another reminder of the past was the fact that this place was crawling with Mousers, mice-like Badniks that were purposely shaped like computer mice. But instead of just running back and forth on the ceiling and walls, they were now jumping at their prey. Sonic took care of that with his own jump attacks.

It was made apparent early on in the first stage that the airship was mainly steam-powered; there were gas pipes everywhere, and every once in a while Sonic would whiz past air shafts that spurted puffs of hot stream There were also giant spike balls to jump over, and between each one were sets of Rings.

**Ring Count: 3… 6… 9… 12**

Sonic then sped up a ramp that led to a second level, where Blasters were waiting for him. They were too slow for the blue hedgehog though; it also helped that his double-jump move made a temporary sir shield for him to deflect their laser balls. But to move forward, Sonic would have to jump and grab a chained crane hook to swing across from platform to platform.

Once on the second platform, he Spin-Dashed across a sliding conveyer belt that led to another room. This room had steam-powered springboards that would lift Sonic or Sally toward more Rings to grab; there were four in total. Sonic took advantage of them all, one by one.

**Ring Count: 24**

Back on his run, Sonic zoomed through a hallway with electrical tubes that charged with blue light. They pulled toward them small spike balls, which Sonic was quick to evade. Then he spun across another conveyer belt, followed by another crane hook. He held on tightly as it pulled him upward, toward a new level of the airship's innards.

On the next platform, he could tell he was now in the ship's mid-section, for echidna cyborgs that had just returned after their beating in the castle were still hooked into their recovery capsules. Their capsules were egg-shaped and had some sort of green liquid inside them, and all of the echidnas were fast asleep. They were no threat to the heroes, but the Badniks guarding them were. These Orbinauts were small circular robots surrounded by magnetically-charged spike balls, and shot them at the oncoming enemies. Sonic had no choice now but to take his time in jumping over their spike balls.

Once past that section, he ran into another electrically-charged hallway. This time, however, the spike balls were boulder-sized, and moved left and right with precise timing. Again, Sonic had to slow down just to avoid injury.

After a sharp turn to the right, Sonic and Sally entered another incubation room. But this time, there were not only Orbinauts waiting for them, but also a few echidna cyborgs that had just awoken from their sleeping chambers. Armed with bo-staffs, they jumped at Sonic.

"Tag me!" shouted Sally, and she jumped into the fray. Her lightning-fast skills deflected the enemy staffs, and she swoop-kicked them under their feet. They disappeared once defeated, possibly teleported into another incubation room. Sally would be rewarded for her efforts with Rings at the end of the hallway.

**Ring Count: 30**

Sally came across a conveyer belt that was moving on the opposite direction as she, and so she had to jump over and over again until she forced her way to the other side. There, on the next platform, a Ten-ring Box was waiting.

**Ring Count: 40**

More Mousers were jumping from the walls, and she whacked them all with a twirl of her staff. With them out of the way, she was free to run across a narrow platform that was slanted downward, almost like a slide. Once she got enough momentum from this slide, she managed to zip across a board full of magnetic spike-balls that moved to and fro thanks to electric tubes. On the end of the road was a spring that not only led to a new level, but also a line of Rings.

**Ring Count: 46**

Up ahead on this new level was a narrow hallway where split platforms were slamming into the floor like death traps. She tagged Sonic, and he Spin-Dashed across with ease.

There was another crane hook to grab, and it lifted Sonic upward to another platform, where chained spike-balls were twirling around in the air. To avoid them, the hedgehog had to jump onto a steam-powered, floating block that was part of a pattern of floating blocks that seemed to act as guides across the room. It seemed a little too convenient, but then again this could have served as a training ground for the legionnaires.

Going across the plain of spike balls was easy enough for Sonic, but then as he jumped onto the next platform, he was welcomed by three SWAT-bots all lined up beside each other, armed with laser guns on their arms. They nearly shot him down, but he slid-kicked to avoid their blasts. Once they lifted their arms to prepare another shot, he took them down with his jump attacks.

The next thing he knew, Sonic was staring down a floor covered in spike-balls! Now he had to jump onto a set of hooks that dangled from the ceiling and move across them like monkey bars. This was not only convenient, but there were also Rings hovering underneath the bars.

**Ring Count: 52**

A dead-end was at the end of the line, but thankfully another hovering block was waiting to lift Sonic and Sally into the next level of the airship. Sonic Spin-Dashed to get off the block, and rolled across a conveyer belt that was moving against his current. He had to jump across it, not just to move forward but also to avoid a dooming buzz-saw on the opposite wall. Once safely across, he snatched up another line of Rings.

**Ring Count: 60**

"Almost there," he panted, counting his progress.

Upon entering the next room, a huge wave of steam came over him. Sonic could hear that giant spike-balls were rolling around, but because there was so much smoke, he couldn't see them.

"My turn," said Sally as she took over the lead. She then jumped in the air and twirled her body, using her staff like a propeller, and created a small gust of wind that pushed back the smoke. She kept this up until the spike balls were visible, and she and Sonic could safely make it across.

Sonic then regained the lead to Spin-Dash up a slide that carried him and Sally up through a door and out to fresh air. Now they were on the ship's deck, where several SWAT-bots were waiting for them.

Sonic dashed for cover as they fired lasers at him, and hid behind a steel pole. He waited for them to get closer before kicking them to the ground and then jumping on their heads to beat them into submission. Once they were destroyed, he ran across the area to steal away more Rings, including two Ten-Ring boxes hiding in plain sight.

**Ring Count: 88**

Sonic then jumped onto the ledge and used it to run to the next area of the deck where more Rings and more SWAT-bots were waiting. He repeated the duck-and-cover routine and then tagged Sally to finish off the enemies. And for good measure, she performed her Jump-Twirl to snatch up Rings that hovered over her head.

**Ring Count: 94**

"Almost there," she claimed.

She took a pointer from Sonic by using the ship's ledge as a platform to get to the next area of the ship deck; this time she found her way to the main area where a giant wheel directing the ship was turning on its own accord. Five SWAT-bots and three echidna legionnaires were waiting there.

But before she decided to fight them, Sally ran around them to snag six more Rings, which lines up just behind the steering wheel.

**Ring Count: 100**

"Full Power!" exclaimed the princess.

Sally then settled down in the center of the arena, allowing her enemies to get very close. Then, paying up fifty of their Rings, she and Sonic declared, "TEAM-UP!"

For their special move, Sonic ran around Sally, faster and faster, making her hover in the air by the force of the wind he was creating. She then held out her arms, channeling her emerald's power, and started to glow a bright yellow. In a flash, their lightning and wind elements joined forces, creating a giant tornado with lightning bolts pulsating around it.

The Thunder-Spin came at such a great force that it disintegrated all of the enemies in one fell swoop. **FOOM!** And just like that, it was all over.

As the heroes paused to catch their breath, they realized that they were now all alone at the ship's helm. Victory was theirs!

…

**- ACT II CLEARED! -**

**Total Rings: 50**

**Power Points: 2067 (not counting Badnik/SWAT-bot damage)**

**Rank: A+ (Perfect!)**

…

"Yeah, we did it!" cheered Sally, as she gave Sonic another high-five. He giggled at her enthusiasm.

But just when their hopes were at an all-time high, a sudden rumble shook them. They took notice of the ship's wheel, which was now slowly slipping down an open trap door. When it slipped out of sight, it was then replaced by another machine rising from the secret door.

Sonic and Sally braced themselves…

…

**LOADING BOSS BATTLE**


	9. BOSS BATTLE: vs Metal Nicole

**9. "Missing Lynx"**

…

Rising up from the trap door was a large platform with a giant egg-shaped orb in its center. The duo of heroes waited with baited breath for whatever was about to hatch from within…

When the orb split in two and fell apart, Sally's eyes beamed in shock and awe at the sight of an all-metallic feline creature, draped in silvery bonds that would have made up a dress.

"No… Can it be…?" she gasped.

Sonic turned to her with concern. "Sal? …Who is it?"

The princess took a step toward the robotic creature. "…It's Nicole… She's the shaman for my family, and… and one of my closest friends."

The robotic creature's eyes flashed purple, startling both the squirrel and the hedgehog. Then, in a vibrating feminine voice, it purred: **"Sally…"**

"Nicole?" Sally gasped again. "Nicole, i-is that really you in there?"

"**Sally… my dear friend… I am speaking to you from within this robotic form. I only have a short period of time before it takes over… Please… give me your Sol emerald, so that I may free myself… Please, Sally…"**

Sonic took her shoulder and warned her, "Hold it, Sal. I don't like this…"

"But… she's a Healer-Type. Maybe one touch of the emerald could…" Then she blinked her eyes, snapping out of what could only be described as a daze. "…you're right, Sonic. We can't take any chances."

Sonic then dashed over to the ledge of the airship and gave out a harsh whistle. "Amy! Tails!"

On command, Tails carried Amy across the air from the high tower to the airship's main deck. They ran to Sonic and Sally's side without hesitation.

"Amy," Sally pleaded, "this is m friend Nicole, she's been roboticized. You can heal her with the purple emerald. Here."

"**Sally,"** purred the voice of Nicole, **"give it to me."**

Not listening to Nicole, Sally summoned up the emerald and handed it over to Amy. "Please, hurry."

"Don't worry Sally," smiled the pink hedgehog, "I know what to do." She then bravely walked toward the platform on which Metal-Nicole stood, and started to chant, "In the name of Chaos and Balance, I-"

"Amy! Lookout!" barked Sonic, but it was too late.

Seeing as how her coy ruse wasn't working, Metal-Nicole raised a hand in the air, summoning a great snake-like hose with a clawed arm from underneath the deck. It smacked itself into Amy, making her drop the emerald. Before she had a chance to recover it, the metal claw seized the stone and carried it over to Metal-Nicole's waiting hands.

On cue, two giant sentinel robots, made from egg-shaped incubators and armed with spike-balls at the end of their metallic tentacles. They each stood by the side of Metal-Nicole, as though they were her bodyguards.

"**Hahahahahahah,"** laughed the robot. **"Master Robotnik will be most pleased when he sees that I've brought him his newest emerald."**

"Nicole," frowned Sally, as she came to the solemn conclusion that Metal-Nicole was playing with her feelings all along.

As both he and Tails helped Amy to her feet, Sonic pointed at the robotic lynx and declared, "Lady, you just made a big mistake!"

Seeing this as a challenge, Metal-Nicole's purple eyes glowed all the brighter.

…

**- BOSS BATTLE: vs. Metal-Nicole -**

**Boss Song: "Scrambled Eggman" from **_**"Project Chaos"**_

**Artists: "BrainCells" and "SnappleMan"**

The egg-shaped sentinels with green-glass mid-sections charged at the heroes, whipping their bodies around to use their claws as whips. The team dodged them; Tails took to the air, Sonic and Sally jumped, and Amy ducked.

The little fox was quick to snatch three Rings in the air, just the energy boost his team would need, as they would end up sharing the damage in this battle.

Sonic waited for the sentinels to slow down and stop spinning before daring to jump-attack one. He hit it in its green center, and it shook in reaction. He hit it just where it needed to be hit.

But the sentinels then threw their arms forward, making the team scatter to avoid injury. Then they regrouped to Metal-Nicole, who activated the Sol Emerald to unleash a lightning bolt attack, similar to Sally's Thunder Staff. But she had to pick a target first, and she chose Sonic.

Sonic tried to dodge the thunderbolt, but was hit anyway, releasing the three Rings Tails grabbed for him. But he quickly recovered them all the same.

"Sonic!" gasped Amy. Enraged, she tagged herself into play and charged at Metal-Nicole at full force, hammer raised in the air. Her jump was just too short to reach Metal-Nicole's hit box, which was her head.

"Allow me!" called out Sally, ad was tagged into play. She had very little time to twirl-jump toward Metal-Nicole before the sentinels went back into the fray, but she managed to get her with her staff just in the nick of time.

The sentinels charged, arms whipping to and fro, making the team scatter once again. But while Sally was still in play, she took an opportunity to hit one sentinel's mid-section as it drove past her.

"Tag me!" demanded Tails, and he jumped into play. He was also running past a spinning sentinel and managed to jump-attack it, hitting its mid-section.

The sentinels then pushed themselves back to rejoin Metal-Nicole. She launched another thunderbolt from her hand, this time aiming Tails. But the fox took flight before she could reach her target.

"My turn!" called out Sonic, as the sentinels were unleashed once more. He waited for the leftmost sentinel to come his way, and he Spin-Dashed its legs. This proved unaffected, but at least he didn't take damage. He then jump-attacked, but just missed the hit box. He paused to regain his composure before trying again; the next jump-attack would prove successful.

"Let me at 'em!" pleaded Amy. As she followed after Sonic, she managed to double-swing at the left sentinel. Not only did she hit it twice, but its fifth hit managed to sever its hose-like tentacles. It was now completely vulnerable.

But then the sentinel robots made their way back to Metal-Nicole. This time she changed her tactic; she hovered in the air, glowing with electricity, and fired a shower of small thunderbolts. The team was helpless, and lost their Rings. Sonic grabbed two, but the third vanished.

The sentinels came at them again, but now only one was able to pose a threat.

"Tag me!" demanded Sonic, and he Spin-Dashed into the fray. His target, the armless robot, went down in a puff of fire and smoke before disintegrating. This made the second sentinel move all the faster, however, and Sonic had to dodge its whip-like spiky arms.

Sonic waited until it slowed down before hitting its mid-section; three hits down, two to go.

The sentinel made its way back to Metal-Nicole's right side, but now her left side was open for attack. Sonic saw this and seized the opportunity. He dashed over to her left side, just as she was raising her arm in attack, and jump-attacked her head. This caused her to stop her attack, as she was temporarily dazed.

"Tag me!" pleaded Amy, and she took Sonic's place in the front line of offense. Her hammer proved to be useful against the sentinel's whipping body, acting as a shield for her. Again, she had to wait for it to slow down, and she managed to double-swing her hammer to knock it down for good.

Now that Metal-Nicole was without guardianship, she hovered in the air for another onslaught of lightning bolts. Her tactic worked, but Sonic managed to keep ahold of the two Rings.

"My turn!" claimed Sonic.

"Let me!" demanded Sally. She jumped in front of the team and lunged herself at her former friend. With a twirl-jump, she whacked Metal-Nicole square in the face. Three hits down. She repeated her strategy; four hits down.

Metal-Nicole wouldn't give up, however. She shot another thunderbolt at Sonic, but he dodged it this time.

Sally once again twirl-jumped at Metal-Nicole, hitting her head again. This time, the metallic lynx was starting to blink red; her energy was fading.

"My turn!" Sonic said again; Sally relinquished her lead over to him. While Metal-Nicole was starting to hover to and fro in the air, Sonic managed to make a very high jump-attack at her. He hit her once, but then she swayed to the right to avoid a second high jump. All he had to do was follow her, avoiding electrical jolts that oozed from her body at the same time.

Then, at last, he made a high jump that landed on her face, and she fell to her knees in defeat. Her body slumped, indicating that there was just no more fight left in her.

…

**- MISSION:COMPLETE! -**

"Yeah! We did it," cheered Sally, high-fiving Amy.

"We sure did," replied the equally satisfied she-hedgehog.

Sonic scratched Tails' scruffy head, smiling, "Good job, bro!"

"I knew we could do it," Tails smiled back.

…

Metal-Nicole's body lay motionless as she remained kneeling on the floor; electric shocks jolted her every few seconds.

Sally and Amy approached the metallic lynx with caution.

"…Is it too late to save her?" frowned Amy, as she held out the purple Sol Emerald.

"Let's hope not," shook Sally's head. "Now's your chance, Amy."

Amy then picked up the emerald that was dropped during the fight, and held it up toward the lifeless Lynx. "In the name of Chaos and Balance, I now free you of your metallic prison. You are hereby… **Released**!"

A purple halo surrounded the metallic lynx, which magically peeled away at her form until fur and lace appeared in its place.

…

**- YOU'VE RELEASED: NICOLE THE LYNX! -**

…

Nicole fluttered her deep purple eyes open. "Wha… where am I?" she muttered weakly.

"Nicole!" cheered Sally, dropping to her knees to give her long-time friend a big hug. "I'm so glad you're back! I was worried I'd never see you again."

"…Princess Sally?" said the still dazed she-lynx.

Sally pulled away from her and replied, "You were under Robotnik's control, but everything's okay- you're free now."

Nicole rubbed her forehead. "I… I remember being at Robotnik's lair. I think he wanted to use me to lure your Sol Emerald."

"Don't worry," smiled the princess, "he's never going to get our emerald, not while our new friends are here to help us." Sally then helped Nicole onto her feet and introduced her to Sonic and the others.

…

**Robotropolis.**

Truly defeated this time, both Dr. Finitevus and Mistress Lein-Da were found genuflecting before the throne of Robotnik, their heads bowed to the ground in humility.

"My liege," said Finitevus solemnly, "this defeat was my fault. Allow me to bear the punishment you've set aside for my legionnaires. I humbly accept my fate, as…"

He stopped his speech only because he and Lein-Da noticed the strangest sound they had ever heard: Robotnik was giggling.

The oversized tyrant wasn't paying the least bit of attention to his allies; instead his red eyes were fixed on a computer monitor on the wall, playing back the footage of the battle at Acorn Palace. The footage was clearly showing images of Sonic, Tails and Amy.

Seeing that blue hedgehog sparked something from deep within the giant madman. Something profound, something… exciting. He couldn't help himself; he giggled, chuckled, and then…

"BWA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

His burst of laughter shook even Finitevus, the strongest-willed of all echidna legionnaires.

Then Robotnik turned to his ally and declared, "Finitevus! I'm sending one thousand SWAT-bots to your kingdom in the wasteland. Do with them as you wish!"

"M-my lord?"

"Have your echidnas double- no, TRIPLE- their defenses! And send as many of them as you can to Felidae, Canus and Aquatica as you can!"

Finitevus jumped to his feet and saluted, "Sir! It shall be done! Come, Lein-Da."

Lein-Da followed behind her mate, wondering how in the world they had just survived the wrath of Robotnik.

The mad genius turned back to the monitor on the wall and gazed intently at the image of Sonic.

"….At last," he mused. "…..That **hedgehog**…."

…

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	10. Onward and Upward

**10. "Onward and Upward"**

…

After a night of both resting and repairing of the castle's interior, Nicole the Lynx led the team of Freedom Fighters into the throne room of the royal Acorn family. She then pulled the line of a red curtain, triggering a secret wall's opening. The wall was actually an elevator. The team entered, and the elevator descended.

A secret room lay hidden just underneath the throne room; this was Nicole's base of operations. Sonic and company were welcomed to the stone room with glowing green candlelight, shelves of books and walls covered with maps of the world. But the table in the center of the room proved to be most intriguing; its center was cut out to make room for a large, lime green crystal ball.

Nicole explained as she approached the crystal, "As seer and shaman of the royal family, I've been entrusted with this All-Seeing Eye. This allows me to see what goes on in other parts of our world, to see if anyone is in need of our help."

She raised her black paws to the orb, and it started to spin like a globe, faster and faster, until it reflected a holographic image of a jungle landscape.

"The Felidae Kingdom," said Nicole. "I can see now where Robotnik is planning his next move."

"That's where Blaze the Cat lives, isn't it?" guessed Sonic.

"Yes," nodded the lynx; "and from what I can remember while I was in captivity, her kingdom has already been seized by Robotnik."

Tails gasped, "Oh, no! Do you know if she…?"

Nicole frowned and shook her head, "I'm sorry, there's been no word from her for two days now. I fear she's been captured- possibly even roboticized."

Sally added with a gulp, "And that means… Robotnik has two Sol Emeralds instead of just one."

Hearing this, Knuckles the Echidna balled his fists. "Well, what're we waiting for? Let's get over there and take it back!"

"Wait," stated Nicole; "This is exactly what Robotnik is planning. If his forces are growing in numbers there, then he's expecting an attack."

"She's right," nodded Antoine; "we might be walking ourselves right into a trap, yes?"

Sonic huffed with a tapping foot, "Well, far be it from me to disappoint the ol' Ro-Butt."

Sally narrowed her eyes at him. "Wouldn't it be better if we had a plan, instead of just running straight into danger? Again?"

Sonic gave her a look, but then Antoine stepped in and said, "I'd listen to her, 'edge'og. Ze princess does have a point."

"Ugh, fine… What's the plan then?"

Sally paused to think, then replied, "We'll split into teams. There's ten of us, so four will go into Paradise Hill Zone, four others will go to Lava River Zone, and the other two will storm the Crystal Cave Zone. And we'll hit them all at the same time."

"Oui. A three-pronged attack," nodded Antoine. "Vell thought out, princess."

"And," asked Shadow suddenly, as he stayed in the back by the elevator, "just which two of us will be storming the cave?"

"I… haven't decided yet," frowned Sally. "But that's where Blaze would be, if she were still there. So our best fighters have to go and confront her."

"Sounds like my kind of work," stated the black hedgehog.

"Hold on," argued Sonic, "since when were you so interested in playing the hero, Shadow?"

"Too late, my mind's made up. **Chaos Control**!" _Zip!_ He was gone.

Sonic growled in frustration, while Knuckles grinned, "I guess somebody aught to tail him… No volunteers? …Fine then, I'll do it. I'll let you guys know when I get there." Knuckles then took off for the elevator.

The rest of the team decided on who was going with who and where before they all headed for the elevator.

"Sally," said Nicole as she turned to her old friend. "I think we should keep in touch, just in case you and your friends need any assistance. Here…" She then waved her paw, and a small cell phone-like device levitated from a bookshelf over to her hand. She then handed it over to Sally. "Take this communicator with you. It's the least I could do, after you risked your life to save me."

Sally placed the cell phone in a pocket under her vest. "Thank you, Nicole."

…

"No, no, no, NO! I refuse to let you run off again!" scolded the high strung king.

Sally, facing her father in the throne room once more, was running out of patience. "Father, we don't have time for this. Blaze is m friend, and we have to make sure she and her Sol Emerald are safe. I _have_ to go with the team. …Look, if this is about the shot I took in my back, look! It's already healed. I'm starting to think that these battles are actually making me stronger."

"The only thing getting stronger around here is your arrogance, young lady! You will start behaving like a real princess, and stay in the palace!"

"…No. you can't make me."

The king growled quite furiously; his balled fist was ready to ram straight through his chair arm. "…Sally, dear, if you leave this place and join the resistance, I'll have no choice but to forfeit your crown."

"Don't bother, I'll forfeit it myself."

Many gasps filled the room upon hearing those words; in the background, Sally's mother and her closest of friends were overhearing the argument, and were shocked at the princess' decision.

Sally stood her ground while her father's face was starting to turn red. He was so angry, so hurt by her words, that he had nothing left to say accept, "Get out."

Sally bowed her head. "Goodbye, father." Then she turned to the door and walked out.

"DON'T EVER SHOW YOUR FACE AROUND HERE AGAIN! DO YOU HEAR ME! I'LL THROW YOU IN THE DUNGEON SO FAST… Just… _go_!"

The king, exhausted from his rage, fell back in his throne and paused to catch his breath.

Meanwhile, the queen- along with Sally's friends- ran after her.

"Sally!" called out Queen Alicia. "Sally, come back here, please!"

Sally stopped and turned around. "Mom, you know why I can't stay."

"I know, I know… I understand, believe me. Just… don't leave it like this. You don't want to walk out of here with a grudge on your father."

"But he'll never let me be who I'm meant to be…"

As much as it pained her, the queen replied with a deep sigh. "Listen… I'll see to it that you leave with your friends. I'll even go as far as to lie that the Sol Emerald is staying here."

Sally was stunned. "Mom…!"

"I'm only doing this because I trust you, dear. Can you promise me that you'll make it back here alive and well?"

There was a long moment of silence between them; both of their hearts were breaking.

"I'm sorry, Mom… I can't…"

"…I know. I just had to ask. You're still my daughter, after all."

"Oh Mom..." Sally opened her arms and flung them around the queen. "…I love you, Mom. I really wish I could keep that promise."

The queen held back her tears as she replied, "…You've grown up much too fast for me. You're like… a young queen now. No, a young lady. I couldn't be more proud of you."

Bunnie, Antoine, Sonic and Tails all stood by with baited breaths, tasking in the moment in their own quiet way.

Alicia stroked her daughter's short, wispy hair. "…I do wish you'd let your hair grow out though." She and Sally giggled.

"My friends will take care of me," Sally assured her. "Don't worry."

Alicia then glanced over to the young Freedom Fighters. Bunnie and Antoine gave her nods, Tails smiled, and Sonic gave a thumbs-up.

Sally then took her mother's gloved hand and said her last goodbye: "I'll be careful. That I promise… Goodbye, Mom."

"Goodbye, dear… and good luck." She gave Sally a kiss on the cheek before she let her go.

As her friends followed after Sally, she made sure that they didn't catch her wiping tears from her eyes. Queen Alicia, on the other hand, wasn't so subtle about her tears.

…

Of the seven airships that attacked the Acorn Palace, only one was recovered by the team of Freedom Fighters. Tails and Rotor rewired its computer mainframe so that they could pilot it themselves. Rotor took to the wheel like a pro, while Tails joined the others on deck.

Halfway across the ocean, the team fell silent. Bunnie Rabbot patched up the tear in Sally's vest, much to her appreciation, while Antoine sharpened his sword, and Julie-Su practiced her gun firing. Tails was wandering around to see if anyone was interested in a conversation. And he wasn't the only one.

Amy Rose was getting restless; she hadn't had a moment alone with her beloved Sonic since they were sent to this new world. Now was as good a time as ever to catch up with him, as he had nowhere to run.

Sonic wasn't running, in fact; he was lying on his back against the sun's rays, half asleep with sunglasses over his enormous eyes. He didn't seem to mind that Amy was walking up to him, leaning over the ledge of the ship with a sigh.

"It's so beautiful up here, isn't it Sonic?" she purred.

"It's not bad," he replied half lazily.

"So, what do you think of this place so far? Kind of weird, huh?"

"Nah, it's pretty cool. In fact, it's a lot like our own world, just with different people."

"Yeah, I guess so…" Amy then took a deep breath, readying herself to strike the big question: "So, when we land in Felidae, can I be your Tag Partner this time? Please?"

Sonic finally stirred; something about the desperation in her voice made his fur crawl. He then lowered his shades and looked her in the eye. "…You really wanna pair up with me? Why?"

"Well, why not? You're my hero, and… Honestly, I kind of miss hanging around you like we used to."

"Amy, it's only been two days."

"Are you thinking about teaming up with the princess again?" she sounded a bit harsh that time.

Sonic finally sat up. "She's not a princess anymore, and to answer your question, no. I wasn't even thinking about teaming up with anyone this time."

"But the plan was-"

"I know what the plan was, but I don't have to go along with it. I think it's about time I went solo for a little while."

"Wait, so you're going _against _Sally's wishes?"

His head tilted away. "…She's not the boss of me. No one is."

Now Amy was truly puzzled; just where was his heart at that moment, she wondered? Then it hit her. "Oh… Wait, I know what this is about: Blaze the Cat. You're so worried about _her_ that you'll do anything to save her."

Sonic's eyes glared at her. "Of course I'm worried about her. She's my friend!"

"Is it because she contacted you in your dreams?"

"Ugh! Will you stop it, Amy? It's not like that, okay!"

"Fine…" Amy turned away, unsure of how to feel after that. But then she stormed off, claiming, "Go ahead and be with your little kitty-cat, _or _your royal squirrel-girl. See if I care."

Sonic had suddenly come down with a headache, and rubbed his brow in pain.

Meanwhile, a certain two-tailed fox was walking past Antoine and Julie-Su as they practiced their hand-to-hand combat on each other. He wasn't about to disturb them while they were so focused on battle.

Then he stopped at last by the ship's dock, where Sally and Bunnie were sitting side by side, with Sally's vest fully repaired. Tails decided that now was the time to get to know the two of them a lot better.

As he approached them, he cleared his throat. "Ahem… 'Scuse me."

Bunnie stirred first; "Oh hey, sugah-fox! Where've you been?"

"Just walking around. So, uh, Bunnie?"

"Yah?"

"Uh… well…" Tails paused, unsure of what to ask her, even now while his curiosity was at an all-time high. "Uh…"

"Sit here, darlin'," coaxed the cyborg rabbit, patting the small step in front of her.

Tails obliged and sat down.

"So," smiled the yellow rabbit, "You got any fam'ly back home, sugah?"

"Just Sonic; he's my big brother. Sort of. …What about you?"

"Well, Ah got a mom an' dad, but they're hiding out back at the Acorn Kingdom. Ah got Sally here, too; she and Ah're best friends… Oh, and there's Antoine. Ah like him."

"You do, really? He seems…"

"Aw, Ah know he can be a lil' rough aroun' th' edges, but trust me he's like a big ol' candy bar- tough on th' outside, jelly on th' inside… But don't tell 'im Ah said that."

"Heh. I wouldn't have guessed… So, uh, Sally?"

"Hmm?" hummed the former princess.

"I'm sorry about your family."

"Oh, don't worry Tails. My father will come around eventually, he just needs time. But I do appreciate your concern."

"You're welcome."

"So… no family other than Sonic?"

"Yep. I mean nope."

"That's too bad. Tell you what, you can call me Aunt Sally from now on."

"Really?"

"And," added Bunnie, "you can call me Aunt Bunnie too. We'll be like yer new big sisters, or somethin'. Right, Sal-gal?"

Tails blushed as he giggled, "Gosh, I'm honored!"

They sat peacefully for a while, until Rotor looked upward to notice flocks of seagulls overhead. "We must be getting close to land," he observed out loud. "Tails, buddy fly up to the crow's nest and point out the shore for me, will ya?"

"Aye-aye, captain," saluted the fox. He then fluttered up to the highest point of the ship on two propeller-like tails. "…North by Northwest, Rotor! Full steam ahead!"

…

**Felidae Kingdom- Paradise Hill Zone.**

After a safe landing on the shores of the jungle paradise, the team took a moment or two to limber up and stretch their backs. Then the former princess counted heads:

"Okay, roll coll. Amy, Tails, Bunnie, Antoine, Julie, Rotor, Sonic… Sonic?" She looked left and right, to no avail. "Where's Sonic?"

Bunnie scratched her head. "I dunno, Ah thought Ah saw 'im a minute ago."

Amy then crossed her arms. "I know where he went; he took off as soon as we landed."

"He did what!" exclaimed an angered Sally.

"He told me himself that he'd go solo."

"Oh, that hedgehog," grumbled the former princess. "…Fine. Tails, Rotor, you're with me. We'll take the Scratch and Grounder for a spin around the island."

"Awesome," smiled Tails.

"Antoine? Julie? You're the best scouts, so you go ahead of us."

"As you wish, prin—I mean, Sally," saluted Antoine.

"Amy, Bunnie, you're together on this one. Okay?"

"Got it, Sal-gal!" Bunnie placed her metallic left arm around Amy's shoulder, making her slightly uncomfortable. "You ready to go, sugah-hog?"

Obviously disappointed with Sonic, Amy faked a smile. "Heh… Okay, whatever."

Sally gave them a nod. "Okay, it's settled. Let's move out, teams."

Sally's team stayed behind to prep the vehicles, while Amy and Bunnie moved west, Antoine and Julie-Su east. The hunt for Blaze was on.

…

**- NEW TEAMS! -**

**SUGAR AND SPICE**

**Amy (Heal-Type) and Bunnie (Power-Type)**

**CLOAK AND DAGGER**

**Julie-Su (Stealth-Type) and Antoine (Weapons-Type)**

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**LOADING ZONE…**

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**DON'T YOU JUST ****HATE**** THESE LONG LOAD TIMES!**

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	11. PARADISE HILL ZONE: Sugar and Spice

**LOADI- Okay, here we go.**

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**11. "Girl Power"**

…

**- PARADISE HILL ZONE -**

Not as crowded with trees as Knothole Village Zone but still just as green, Paradise Hill Zone was very much a tropical rainforest, painted with palm trees and lush high hills. But lurking within this jungle island were Badniks, including the monkey-shaped Coconuts, named for the ammo they liked to throw from the treetops. Hiding by the ponds and rivers were Ribots, frog-shaped bots whose air sacks were actually anvils waiting to be thrown at passersby. Jet-like Flybots were shaped like birds that scanned the canopy, and Snale Blasters hid within ditches and by trees or rocks to ambush with lasers shooting from their snail-like shells.

But there was a new addition to the Badnik lineup here: cheetah-shaped Cattrons that zipped from one area to another, often locking onto a target as though they were on a real hunt for prey.

Bunnie and Amy readied themselves for their run; Bunnie hopped on her robotic legs while Am cracked her knuckles before lifting her heavy looking hammer.

The rabbit looked to the hedgehog and wondered, "You alright, sugah?"

"Yeah," sighed Amy, not doing a very good job at hiding her frown. "…I'm just disappointed in that bull-headed Sonic. He should know by now not to run head first into trouble."

"Ah'm sure he means well," smiled the bubbly Bunnie. "He's prob'ly halfway to Lava River by now. Wait'll he sees how far we get!"

Amy finally smiled, "Yeah, we'll sow him!"

…

**- ACT I -**

**Team Sugar and Spice**

"It's you n' me, sugah!" cheered Bunnie as she led the way.

The pathway was never flat ground, but a series of slopes- from small to large ones. So that gave both Bunnie and Amy some momentum in their running; with every downhill, their speed picked up. Bunnie hopped over small rocks on the path, grabbing Rings in the process, and passing by Coconuts with nearly every turn.

**Ring Count: 3… 8… 15**

She only got faster by tucking herself into a ball and rolling down the slopes, crashing into one Cattron as it zoomed by and destroying it in the process. That was when things stopped being easy; now the path was giving way to small tar pits and coursing rivers.

Bunnie grabbed a vine and swung over a river, over a Ribot who swung its anvils around sideways. But then two Coconuts on opposite side trees threw small bombs disguised as real coconuts at her. Amy ended up taking the damage, but since Bunnie was in play, no Rings were lost.

Bunnie was in no mood to destroy things at the time; she was busy staying the course and running through lines of Rings as the pathway formed a zig-zag pattern.

**Ring Count: 23**

Then finally, one Badnik got the better of her. Bunnie tried to jump over a Ribot on a fallen tree log, but it surprised her with a swing of its anvil. She took some damage, but with Amy's healing abilities, she only lost half of her Rings.

**Ring Count: 12**

"Is it m turn?" asked Amy who was running behind her. Bunnie didn't automatically tag her; instead she decided to make an attack on two Cattrons as they sped across her running path. She drop-kicked one, and punched the other with the same kind of force that Knuckles would have.

Then Bunnie tagged Amy; "Let me at 'em!" she proclaimed.

Amy tucked into a ball and rolled down a slope that bobbed up and down, catching several Rings along the way. As she hopped back onto her feet, she saw a Flybot zipping down from the sky, and smacked it with her hammer.

**Ring Count: 22**

She swung across a river by vine, and landed on a large rock with a Ribot hiding behind it. Its spinning anvils gave it away, and she jumped onto its head when the time was right. Then she ran forward, only to be knocked down by a speeding Cattron.

**Ring Count: 11**

"Aw, nuts!" she cried out. Her enemy ran away before she had a chance to redeem herself. She then decided to tag Bunnie.

"Yee-haw!" jumped the cyber-rabbit. Her metallic legs spun around like windmills as she picked up the pace, grabbing more Rings as they floated by.

**Ring Count: 19**

She then came to a lovely waterfall, and noticed that something was shining behind the rapid water. There was a small opening between the water and the cliff, and there were two Ten-Ring boxes to be had. Bunnie took the opportunity and punched them with her left arm.

**Ring Count: 39**

"Gotta love it," she proudly stated, counting up her progress.

There was just no stopping her once she passed the waterfall; Flybots and Coconuts were doomed as the she-rabbit did a Twirl-Jump Attack similar to Sally's, with her metal arm packing quite the punch in her brief float.

"My turn!" beamed Am as she was tagged into play.

Amy took to high ground, passing the lower pathway and jumping onto a rock formation that led to more Rings, and more Flybots. She let her hammer do its work, and even did one of her new signature moves: the Double-Smack Attack. As she twirled in the air, her hammer did double damage to any Badnik that dared cross her.

**Ring Count: 46**

"Almost there," she exclaimed, knowing that at fifty Rings she or Bunnie could pull off a Special Attack. But truthfully, she wasn't quite ready- there weren't enough Badniks to abuse.

While still on the high ground, Amy crossed a set of rocks in a river that led straight into a waterfall. Hoping that there was a pattern, she allowed herself to be swept down to the ground level, and jumped through the water to see if any more Rings were hidden. Sadly, there were no Rings behind the torrent this time; instead, it was a pair of ready Rabots swinging their anvils horizontally. But she dodged their attacks and smacked them both with a Double-Smack Attack.

Amy pressed on, zig-zagging down the green and dirt-yellow path; there was so much beauty in the scenery- flowers, hills, palm trees- that she was almost distracted by it. A laser ball from a nearby Snale Blaster zapped her back to reality, as it blindsided her.

**Ring Count: 23**

"Great!" she growled. But all was not lost; she sped on down sloping hills and walloped a few rocks before coming back to a high Ring Count.

**Ring Count: 39**

"Tag me!" pleaded Bunnie, and she took the lead once again.

Bunnie pulled away from the main road, keen on grabbing more Rings, and ran into a deep part of the jungle where there was little to no sunlight. She wasn't scared though, not even when Ribots were now lining up in groups by riverbeds. Bunnie saw them from a distance, and decided to take care of them once and for all. As she threw her left arm in a punch, it extended across the playing field and hit enemies from a distance; this was her special basic attack called the Long-Arm Punch.

She did it again, this time at swooping Flybots that came down on her from the canopy. This seemed to clear the more present dangers as she resumed her hunt for more Rings.

Bunnie came to a small stream and ran against its current, jumping once in a while for Rings hovering overhead…

**Ring Count: 42… 46… 49… 52**

"Alright!" she cheered, but she wasn't quite finished yet. She kept running until the stream led to a third waterfall. While peering through the rushing water, she could see something glowing from behind. She jumped through the falls and found a Ten-Ring Box. With her mighty left arm, she burst it wide open.

**Ring Count: 62**

She came out of the waterfall, only to be attacked by a Cattron as it sped by.

**Ring Count: 31**

"That does it!" she roared in anger. She threw out her left arm's Long-Range attack, and managed to deliver a crushing blow to the escaping feline robot.

Bunnie then jumped up a rock formation to get to high ground, in order to grab more Rings. On this path, she only had annoying Flybots to contend with, but she would end up with a fair share of bounty.

**Ring Count: 34… 41… 47**

She had no choice now but to resume the main pathway, with Amy in tow.

While sliding down the slope that would lead to the low ground, Bunnie did what could only be described as a Spin-Dash in rabbit form. She knocked over two Ribots in the process, much to her joy.

"Tag me!" begged Am, and she was tagged into play once again.

While not a high jumper, Amy could at least throw her hammer for a long-range attack. This proved to be useful against Flybots that were now coming from out of the clear blue. But she could only aim and fire at one Badnik at a time, and they were now ganging up on her and Bunnie.

Amy picked up the pace and jumped over a log with Rings floating over it.

**Ring Count: 50**

"Yes!" she cheered in victory.

It was a good thing that happened, because Coconuts and Cattrons were becoming more and more frequent with every sharp turn. The girls just couldn't contain themselves any longer.

"TEAM-UP!" (Had there not been a Heal-Type in this duo, this never could have happened with just fifty rings. The required mark is one hundred.)

At the cost of their fifty Rings, Bunnie and Am performed their special Team Attack: the Rabbit Hammer. Amy threw her hammer straight up into the air, and Bunnie leaped after it. When she caught it, she must have been about fifty feet up, well over any and all Badnik ranges. With the hammer in her metallic left hand, she came back down to earth with a halo of fire, as though she were a comet. Then… **SLAM!** The earth gave way to a small quake, which sent a shockwave big enough to smite all opponents within sight. Even more impressive was the large crater left in the wake of this attack.

The checkpoint was now in plain sight, and Bunnie took the lead to bring the girls to a welcoming end of the Act.

…

**- ACT I CLEARED! -**

**Total rings: 0**

**Power Points: 5000+ (includes Attack Damage, Special Move Damage)**

**Rank: A- (Great!)**

…

**- ACT II -**

What looked like a white comet suddenly zoomed through the sky, just past the girls' heads, leaving a stream of white smoke. It was actually a fluffy white cloud, and it seemed to "land" in the near distance. This was to be the sign of their next checkpoint. Curious, the girls decided to move forward.

Bunnie took the lead with, "Ah got it, sugah!"

Her pathway quickly morphed into a long downward spiral, coaxing her to tuck into a ball and roll, spinning into Rings and Badniks alike. Once back on her feet, the she-rabbit dashed madly through bushes and fallen leaves.

**Ring Count: 12**

She then took a flying leap over a stilled Snale Blaster, posing as a rock. After a quick warm-up of the rockets in her heels, she dashed down the pathway that led to two loop-de-loops, which harbored more Rings.

**Ring Count: 24**

Then she came to a small tunnel made by lycan and dirt; there was no visibility inside, so she Heel-Dashed- using her rockets as boosters while stretching out her left arm like a battering ram. There were no Badniks inside, luckily, just a few more Rings.

**Ring Count: 27**

On the other side of the tunnel was a rather wide river, unlike the streams of Act I. It required her to either swim through or jump across by means of rocks and floating logs. She chose the latter, careful not to run into the firing rangs of the anvil-swinging Ribots hiding underwater.

Bunnie then dashed forward, across another loop-de-loop and taking a lift from the ramp made of earth after it. While briefly airborne, she snagged more Rings.

**Ring Count: 32**

"Nothin' to it, honey!"

"Lemmie try!"

Amy was tagged in, just in time before a Flybot came dive-bombing down on them. She wailed on it with her hammer's Double-Smack Attack. She then proceeded forward, evading Coconuts and their hurling bombs.

Amy then somehow lost sight of her path, and ran into a palm tree. That's when she realized that she could come in contact with everything in this environment. She tested her hammer smacking with the tree, and knocked it down like a professional lumberjack. This gave her an idea! She moved back toward the Coconuts who were nestled in the treetops, and with a smack of her hammer, both the tree and the Badniks came crashing down. Now she could destroy them! _**Bonk!**_

"Ha!" she giggled, pleased with herself, before moving onward.

"Lemmie try!" requested Bunnie, as she was tagged into play. She took a note from Amy and used her Long-Range Punch on another unsuspecting palm tree. Only this one was hiding a Ten-Ring Box, which she gladly shattered.

**Ring Count: 42**

"Almost there," she mused before speeding down and through a loop-de-loop course.

**Ring Count: 51**

"Sweet!"

Amy saw a Flybot diving toward her from above, and threw her hammer at it. The hammer magically reappeared in her hands afterward. But then a Cattron tried to cut through her on its own course, but she managed to throw herself out of its way. She tried throwing her hammer at it, but missed. Luckily, it reappeared in her hand.

Amy then ran back on her zig-zagging path, through more brush and leaves.

Suddenly, a new type of Badnik jumped out from the brush: a cobra-shaped Viperoid. It lunged itself at Amy, managing to damage her.

**Ring Count: 25**

"Oh no!" she cried out, but Bunnie managed to recover some Rings from behind.

**Ring Count: 32**

The cobra-like Badnik then shot poisonous daggers from its mouth, which Amy blocked with her hammer before slamming it into the Badnik out of rage.

"Gotta watch out for those," she warned herself before charging forward.

On the way, two more Viperoids were coiled on two opposite trees, spitting out their daggers at the girls. Amy saw them coming and dodged them, hitting one with her hammer before moving on. Three Rings were waiting to be picked up in the meantime.

**Ring Count: 35**

Amy then followed the path downhill, picking up momentum as well as more Rings, before running off a ramp that made her glide temporarily in the air. She landed safely on a collapsing platform of earth on the other side, jumping off it just before it gave way.

**Ring Count: 42**

"Lemmie try!" requested Bunnie from behind, but she would have to wait until Amy slid down another downhill slope. She was quick to roll into a ball before more Badniks tried to snap at her heels.

Then she tagged Bunnie, and the she-rabbit jumped high over a rock and cleared the Ribot hiding behind it. With her rocket-powered heels, she dashed once again with her left arm sticking out, slamming through Cattrons and Viperoids in the process.

Then she came to a dead-end in the road, all of a sudden. The path was blocked by a steep hill; she tried to climb it, but it was just too smooth to grab ahold of. She looked around, and noticed a long vine hanging down like a rope. She looked upward, and saw that the vine was just one of a few that would lead straight to the top, but all the while there were Flybots ready to swoop down at her.

Bunnie targeted each Flybot as she jumped high enough to get their attention, then punched them with her long-ranging arm extension. Once they were gone, she climbed up the bottom vine. It only took her a few feet upward, then stopped at a small curve in the cliff. She then had to jump left to another vine, snagging it, then climbing upward again.

On the second climb, a Viperoid slithered down toward her; she had to let go and land on the first slope before she could punch it to death. Then she resumed her climb. Atop the second slope, she found and punched open a Ten-Ring Box.

**Ring Count: 52**

"Yee-haw!"

Jumping onto the third vine. Bunnie saw another cobra-like Viperoid slithering downward. This time, however, she managed to scoot out of its range so that it would freefall to its own demise. Upon reaching the very top of the cliff, she was welcomed by two Cattrons that were ready to push her over the edge. She jumped out of the way of their charge, and landed on both of their heads- one after the other.

Bunnie then launched her rocket heels once again, darting across the plain like a missile, sliding into a poor little Snale Blaster before it had a chance to release its laser balls.

Bunnie then ran straight into another pocket of deep jungle, where a small stream was hiding Rings.

**Ring Count: 55… 58**

"Lemmie at 'em!" hollered Amy as she was tagged into play.

Amy jumped over a Ribot that was swinging its anvils horizontally, which made her lose some momentum in her speed. But thankfully, a downhill slope more than made up for it. As she zoomed downward, the slide gave way to one, two, three loop-de-loops, followed by a long corkscrew platform.

**Ring Count: 68**

Amy slid to a stop, just before a Cattron could collide into her. She let it pass by, and resumed her charge through the brush.

Another waterfall was nearing, which excited the pink hedgehog; but first she had to dodge one Viperoid after another, which were coiled along the trunks of palm trees, just itching to shoot their fang projectiles at her. She blocked them with her hammer, before smacking both them and their trees to the ground.

"Take THAT, you ugly brutes!"

The cascading waterfall was at the center of a gaping void in the ground; now where was she to go? Amy looked left, then right. She could see a small, narrow bridge made of earth not far from where she stood; she had no choice but to cross it. When she reached the bridge, she noticed that there were two Cattrons waiting on the other side.

"I got this one, sugah!" called out Bunnie from behind.

Amy tagged Bunnie, and she gladly walloped those Cattrons with her long-ranged punch attack. Then she tagged Am back in, thinking that she was faster at crossing the narrow pass. Amy darted as fast as she could; the earth at her feet gave way just as Bunnie touched it. Fortunately, they both made it to the other side.

Amy then slid to a halt as she approached the edge of deep jungle. She could see three or four Cattrons jogging toward her, as well as two Flybots zooming overhead. It was time to…

"TEAM UP!"

Again, Amy threw her hammer straight up into the air, and Bunnie jumped as high as she could to grab it. she came down with it like a comet, smacking into the earth with such an impact that it obliterated all oncoming Badniks. Once the field was cleared, Bunnie took the lead and kicked her heels into high gear.

**Ring Count: 18**

Bunnie zoomed through the deep jungle like a missile, cutting through two Cattrons and one Viperoid, and even snagging five more Rings. But then, unexpectedly, she tagged in Amy, allowing the young pink hedgehog to lead the duo to their second checkpoint.

…

**- YOU'VE CLEARED ACT II! -**

**Total Rings: 18**

**Power Points:10,000+ **

**Rank: A (Great!)**

…

Suddenly, a rustle in the trees gave way for a tall, silver creature carrying what looked like a spear, but was actually a scepter. He landed right in front of the girls with a monkey-like shriek, spinning his staff in an attempt to intimidate them. This looked like another one of Robotnik's victims, as he was much too big to be an ordinary Badnik…

…

**- MINI-BOSS FIGHT: vs. METAL MONKEY KHAN -**

**(Song: "Mini-Boss" Theme of "Sonic 3 and Knuckles," remixed with orchestra and/or techno)**

"Let me at 'em!" growled Amy as she charged forward.

She swung her hammer at the metal beast, but he jumped high enough to fly over her head. He landed behind her and twirled his scepter at her, hitting her in the back.

**Ring Count: 0 - 12**

Bunnie recovered twelve Rings while Amy resumed her fight with the metallic monkey. Again, she swung her hammer over her head, managing to cause a small tremor in the earth, but the monkey-bot escaped into a palm tree on the far right side. In fact, there was this and a tree of the far left side that he could retreat too. And while hidden, he launched three coconuts at Amy. She battled them away with her hammer, but didn't do any damage to her attacker.

The metal brute jumped back down to earth and did another high jump. Amy moved out of the way, and swung her hammer a third time. This time she swung it sideways and caught his belly. He shrieked, and faltered. Then she hit him square in the head while he was dazed. One hit.

"Mah turn!" declared Bunnie, jumping in after Amy. She charged after the metal monkey but he was faster in his retreat. He took to the second tree and flung coconuts at her. She dodged them, but noticed that there was a pattern in his attacks. Bunnie decided to stand her ground and wait for him to jump down. When he did, she launched her Long-Arm Punch at him, knocking him down. Two hits.

The metal brute rolled back onto his feet, away from Bunnie's range. He then tried once again to retreat into the trees…

"Oh no, you don't!" roared Bunnie, and extended her left arm's punch at the far right tree trunk. She hit it a second, then a third time, and down it fell. He then ran across the playing field to jump up into the other tree.

"Let me at 'em!" declared Amy. She raced in and swung at the tree trunk three times. The tree fell, making the monkey-bot clearly unprotected… or so they thought.

As his first two hiding places were now destroyed, the monkey-bot jumped high into the air, and almost magically a puffy white cloud appeared under his feet. He was airborne!

"What!" gasped Amy, amazed at the fact that her opponent was now floating on a small cloud.

"He must be a Flight-type," said Bunnie in the background.

Indeed, he was; the monkey's cloud swooped down on Amy as he waved his iron scepter at her. She blocked it with her hammer, but came very close to losing her rings again. He then lifted himself high in the air so that her jump attacks would be out of range.

"Get me in there!" smiled Bunnie, knowing her cyber arm could reach long range. Bunnie stayed in one spot and focused all her power on her left robot arm, and unleashed its long-range punch attack. She hit the monkey-bot dead center, and his puffy white cloud disintegrated. She then dashed over to him while he was still dazed, and hit his head. Three hits.

He jumped back with a shriek, and summoned up his cloud again. Now he started to sway it back and forth so that Bunnie would have to aim her attack, lest she miss him. But Bunnie's calculations proved to be top notch, as a second Long-Arm Punch brought him back down to earth.

"He's mine!" cheered Amy, as she ran into the fray just as the robot fell to the ground. She dashed over to him, and swung her hammer with a Double-Swing Attack. Four, five hits.

**BOOM!** The monkey-bot fell onto his back, defeated. The girls cheered in victory.

…

**- MISSION: COMPLETE! -**

…

"Yah, girlfriend! Give it up!" cheered Bunnie, slapping Am five with her furry right arm.

Amy then walked over to the frozen monkey-bot with a frown. "Poor guy, I bet he doesn't even know what he's done… Luckily, I still have m healing power." She raised her hand over his chest. "In the name of Chaos and Balance… **Release**!"

A purple light fell over the unconscious creature before he took flesh. He suddenly dawned a flowing red cape with golden shoulder pads, a golden headband, spiky brown hair, and his scepter was jeweled.

…

**- YOU'VE RELEASED: MONKEY KHAN! -**

…

"…Oh, my!" gasped the newly released monkey. He rubbed his head, still dazed. "Where… where am I?" He then looked up at Amy and Bunnie, and jumped back defensively. "Gah! Invaders!"

Bunnie raised her hands. "It's okay, we're friends. Ah'm Bunnie Rabbot, and this is Am Rose."

"Hi," waved Amy.

The monkey blinked in surprise. "Oh… So, you're friends of Blaze the Cat, then?"

"Oh, yes! Have you seen her?" wondered the pink hedgehog.

The monkey hung his head with a frown. "I have… She and I were both captured by Robotnik. But that is the last thing I remember… I'm Ken, but to the locals I am known as Monkey Khan. I am the high general of Blaze's royal court."

"Ah see," nodded Bunnie. "So you must know this place pretty well, right sugah?"

"Uh… Oh, yes. Forgive me, I'm not familiar with your slang."

"S'alright. Hee-hee!"

Monkey Khan then smiled, "If there is any way I could repay you ladies for saving me…"

"Oh!" gasped Amy. "There is; you see, we're not alone here- we've got friends scattered all over this Zone. Can you help us find them?"

"I certainly can." Monkey Khan then did a high jump, spinning his magical scepter in the air, and thus summoned back his small floating cloud. "Follow me, ladies!"

As he zoomed off on his cloud, Bunnie and Amy followed speedily on foot.

…

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	12. Trouble in Paradise

**12. "Trouble in Paradise"**

…

**Paradise Hill Zone.**

Peeking out from the treetops of the canopy, Knuckles watched in wonder as Shadow made one small teleport after another in his hurry to get to Lava River Zone.

"How is he still doing that?" Knuckles whispered to himself. The echidna just couldn't figure out how Shadow could still harness the power of Chaos in a non-Chaos world. He then crawled out of hiding to catch a gust of wind, and glided along its current in pursuit of Shadow.

The black and red hedgehog magically reappeared at the very edge of the jungle, overseeing the landscape give way for an open plain that would lead to the distant volcanic mountain range. At last, he was almost there.

But then a laser beam shot out from the ground, scraping his back. He winced in pain, and turned around to see that he was being targeted by a small group of SWATbots. He growled at them, not wanting to stray from his journey, but their persistence got on his nerves.

He disappeared into thin air, then reappeared in front of two SWATbots on the ground. He fired three shots at them with his guns, but they jumped out of the way. It seemed that the robots were getting cleverer, learning his moves after his previous run-in with them. Again he snarled, and kept firing until one laser ball hit a target. With his speed, he finally managed to get the better of them… all but one.

Without warning, a flash of red slammed into a SWATbot that was sneaking up behind Shadow, pulverizing it. Shadow turned around and realized that it was Knuckles the Echidna that took out the last SWATbot.

"Hmph," he huffed. "I would've handled that myself."

As Shadow started to walk away, Knuckles glared at him. "You're welcome."

The black and red hedgehog continued his journey on foot, when he heard the footsteps of someone creeping up behind him. "Don't you have someone else to follow, like that blue Faker?"

"I'm not letting you out of m sight," replied a suspicious Knuckles. "Not until I learn what exactly it is you're looking for."

"Does it really bother you that much that I'm here in this world?"

"I know you, Shadow; you're never in it to just be the hero. You're after something, aren't you?"

Then Shadow stopped and faced Knuckles with crossed arms. "Honestly, I'm in it for the thrill. My job as a G.U.N. agent was getting painfully boring, so once I got the news that this place was in trouble, I couldn't resist the challenge."

"Yeah, right. You're not a thrill-seeker."

"Okay, okay. To tell you the_ whole_ truth, I want to know more about this Robotnik character, and why he looks and acts so much like Eggman."

"Well, this_ is_ an alternate reality, of sorts."

"But there are no alternate me or you, no alternate Sonic or Tails. And yet, there's an alternate Eggman? What gives?"

Knuckles scratched his chin. "Hmm… Well, you do have a point there. I guess… No, I don't really know."

"It's curious," grinned Shadow. "I like mysteries like this though, they give my mind a nice workout."

Knuckles then sighed, "So you're really in it for the thrill and the mystery, and not some dark alternative?"

"Do I really come off that much as a bad guy?" Shadow seemed offended.

"Well, it's just that… you were never always our friend. You can understand why we can't trust you."

"Alright, so I've made a few mistakes. That was the past; I'm redeeming myself now… You of all people should know what that's like."

Knuckles gulped, briefly reminiscing his own first run-in with Sonic back on Angel Island. "…This isn't about me."

"It's not about me either; this adventure is bigger than the both of us."

"Hmm… Perhaps we should team up then?"

"Sorry, I'm not a team player. You can do what you want, echidna, but I'm following my own path."

As shadow resumed his walk, Knuckles remained inclined to follow him. Only this time, it was more out of curiosity than suspicion. "…Well, what about Rouge? You like teaming up with her back in our world."

"That's when we're agents; she and I aren't as close as you'd think."

"Oh… So, you two aren't dating then?"

Shadow stopped suddenly and glared at Knuckles with sharp teeth. "Who said we were dating!"

Knuckles stepped back fearfully. "Uh-uh-uh… W-well, you hear rumors…"

"Who started that rumor? It's ridiculous!"

"Okay, okay! Calm down…" Knuckles gulped. "What does it matter? You don't usually care about what others think about you."

Shadow turned away in a huff. "I never said I didn't care…"

Knuckles glanced away nervously. "Sorry… I didn't realize you were that sensitive."

Again, Shadow bared his fangs defensively. "I'm _not_ sensitive!" He looked back at the echidna with a softer look on his face. "Look, this isn't working out. You should just go back to your friends and leave me alone."

Knuckles stood his ground. "I don't have to stay with them, I'm my own person. I do what I want."

"Fine then… If you're going to stay with me, then the least you can do is give me some space and let me fight my own battles."

The echidna raised a paw. "Fair enough."

They resumed their walk, Shadow in the front and Knuckles in the back, with about seven feet of space between them. It was going to be a long walk to Lava River Zone.

…

"Pull up, Tails! Pull up!"

The Tech-Team had their hands full with navigating their vehicles around the slopey terrain of Paradise Hill Zone, especially with dozens of flying and running Badniks surrounding them. Rotor called out to his Tag Partner, but the little fox just couldn't get his Scratch vehicle off the ground. Now he was being hounded by five Flybots which were pecking at his car hood.

"I don't have enough Rings," frowned Tails. "Sally, can ya back me up?"

The she-squirrel was riding a motorbike behind the Scratch, and she was armed with just a small laser gun. "I'll try," she replied via walkie-talkie. She raised her gun upward and managed to shoot down three of the bird-like robots.

But then, disaster struck.

"Oh no!" gasped Rotor, realizing that the team was headed straight for a giant gap in the road. He had no choice but to hit the brakes. Tails was quick to hit his own brakes, while Sally veered off and parked her bike a few feet away. They had come to the giant void that Amy and Bunnie found earlier, with the giant waterfall streaming its center. Only this time, there was no road to the other side; and even if there was, the vehicles would have been just too heavy to cross it.

Badniks were still rolling toward them, especially Cattrons and Flybots. The team prepared to fire at them with the little ammunition they had left, when-

**ZOOM!**

A blue steak zipped by, and then came back with a sudden halt.

"Sonic!" cheered Tails, recognizing the blue hedgehog immediately.

By then, Sonic had collected over one hundred Rings, and was saving them for a moment like this. He stared down the Badniks, then smirked slyly before tucking himself into a ball of spikes.

"SONIC… SPINBALL!"

A hundred Rings flew through the air, indicating that he had just activated his special attack. The playing field suddenly changed face, from a prominent jungle to a pinball platform, complete with two flippers sitting behind a spinning Sonic.

He performed his Spin-Dash, but now he was ricocheting off of Badniks and trees as though they were bummers within a pinball machine. He was not only taking out the Badniks, but also collecting a hefty amount of Power Points- enough to perhaps upgrade his own strength. And every once in a while, the flippers would bounce him back into play, should he need them.

The whole attack lasted about ten seconds, but within those ten seconds the hedgehog dealt a lot of damage to his foes. When he stopped and jumped back onto his feet, there was nothing left for him to spin through.

Victoriously, Sonic turned to his friends with two fingers up as a peace sign.

"Alright, way to go!" cheered Rotor from within his Grounder vehicle.

"Awesome move, bro!" added Tails, stepping out of his Scratch vehicle.

"Thank you, thank you," bowed the seemingly humble hedgehog.

"Hmph!" huffed Sally, as she approached him with a glare in her eyes. "And just where have you been, Mister Last-Minute Hero?"

"Scouting," smiled Sonic. "I figured you guys would need a hand sooner or later."

"How convenient for you."

"Aw, come on Sal. Lighten up."

"Couldn't just let us know what your plan was, you _had_ to do things your way."

Rotor then approached them and smiled, "It's okay, everything worked out Sally. I'm just glad we're still in one piece."

"Yes," sighed the former princess, before looking over the cliff. "But now we have a new peoblem: How're we gonna cross this pit?"

"May I suggest, Air Monkey?" chirped the voice of Bunnie Rabbot.

All eyes looked up, and there were Am and Bunnie, atop a small puffy-white cloud piloted by a royally decorated simian. "Hi, y'all!" waved Bunnie.

The grounded team was both perplexed and relieved to see them.

…

That evening, the group settled down by one of many waterfalls in the heart of the jungle. There, they sat in a semi-circle, eating the fruits of the land, while their new simian ally sat down to tell his side of the story:

"It was not three days ago when it happened," said Monkey Khan solemnly. "Blaze and I were the last of the Felidae citizens to be captured. Eggman-Nega, now calling himself Robotnik, took us all by surprise; he first sent the Dark Legion out to distract our army, while his Badniks swarmed the jungle and high hills. By the time we had driven away the legionnaires, it was too late to stop him.

"The last thing I remember was being in the Crystal Caves with Blaze. She told me she had hidden her Sol Emerald, but would not tell me where. It was good that she didn't, because at that point, we found ourselves surrounded by SWATbots.

"I fought them as well as I could, but I was not prepared for their fire power. Once they had me in their grasp, Blaze entered the fight. She summoned all of her fire power, but then… she froze. Literally!

"I then realized that Robotnik had two Sol Emeralds at his command; the second was the blue one, originally owned by Lupe the Wolf. With it, he encased Blaze in a stalagmite of ice. Then, everything went dark…

"The next thing I knew, these two young ladies had awoken me from a trance." With that, Monkey Khan glanced over to Amy and Bunnie, who smiled back at him.

Sonic gulped, "So, Robotnik has the red _and_ blue emeralds?"

"Sadly, yes," nodded Monkey Khan. "But as for Blaze's emerald, I don't know. She would not have told him where she had hidden it… but I fear he may have imprisoned her either by ice, or worse… by metal."

The team was visibly horrified, but then Sally claimed, "If she _has_ been roboticized, then there's still a chance we can save her. As long as I have the purple emerald, Amy can free her just as she freed you."

But the monkey still frowned, "I do hope she is not roboticized; if she is, she would have been forced to tell Robotnik where her yellow emerald is. And that would mean he now has three at his disposal."

"I'm not worried," said Sonic as he rose to his feet. "Just tell me where these Crystal Caves are, and I'll go free her."

"Wait, Sonic!" gasped a worried Amy. "You can't do this alone. Let us help you."

He turned to her with a stern glare. "Look Amy, it's nothing personal… Blaze and I… we… we have this special bond."

"So what?" she shrugged.

He turned away. "You wouldn't understand."

Bunnie then spoke up: "Sonic-sugah, we understand that she's yer friend. We only wanna do our part, that's all this sugah-hog's tryin' t'say."

"I know, Bunnie, but-"

Bunnie then wagged her metallic finger at him. "No buts, darlin'! We're comin' with ya, and that's that."

"Yeah," nodded Amy confidently.

Sonic remained stern; "You guys, this is gonna be too dangerous. You don't know how powerful Blaze is."

"I do," nodded Monkey Khan. "I will help you face her, Sonic."

"Count me in too," added young Tails.

Sonic's ears drooped in worry before he looked over to Sally and Rotor, who were surprisingly quiet. "…Well? You two coming with?"

Sally replied with crossed arms, "Sonic, there's something I've been meaning to ask. Just how exactly did Blaze call out to you?"

"Through my dreams."

"But didn't you have a Chaos Emerald, or near one, at the time?"

"No. Why?"

"I find that strange, because when Shadow and Knuckles were called to this world, they were in the presence of the power of Chaos."

"She's right," agreed Rotor. "It's like… there's something really different about you, Sonic. Something really special."

That's when a light bulb lit up in Amy's brain. Of course! _That's _what he meant about a special bond. Suddenly, she felt very silly about being the slightest bit jealous of Blaze.

Then Sonic shrugged, "I dunno anything about being special, just specially fast."

"Hmm," hummed the former princess. She felt as though he were keeping a secret from her, and it was starting to get to her.

Monkey Khan then said to Sonic, "My friend, if you are as gifted as Blaze is, then you must be the one destined to defeat her in battle. We must go then at once, to the Crystal Caves!"

Monkey Khan then made a high jump and spun his scepter around to summon his floating cloud. "Let's go!" he cheered as he zoomed off through the air.

"Hey!" Sonic called out, "That's my line!" He zipped off after the flying monkey.

As the team scrambled to their feet, Rotor looked over to Sally, who was frowning. "You okay, Sally?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "I'm just… curious about him. That's all."

The team then gathered their belongings and began their journey to Lava River Zone.

Meanwhile, another team of heroes had already beaten them there…

…

**LOADING ZONE…**


	13. LAVA RIVER ZONE: Cloak and Dagger

**13. "If You Can't Stand the Heat…"**

…

**- LAVA RIVER ZONE -**

**Team Cloak and Dagger.**

**- ACT I -**

Hardly a place to call home, Lava River Zone was a barren wasteland riddled in lava rivers made possible by one furiously-active volcano, which towered over the landscape. Antoine D'Coolette and Julie-Su the Echidna entered through a mist, pondering over which way was safer, left, right or dead center.

"Oh my," mused Antoine, slightly intimidated by the boiling-hot lava streams. "I suppose zis is ze place, no?"

"Well, let's see. We're in a Zone, it's covered by lava, and they're running like rivers. Yep, I'd say this is the place."

"Yes, of course… Vell, ladies first?"

Julie glared at him briefly, and he responded with a coy grin and a gentlemanly bow. "If you insist."

The hot-pink echidna took the lead and charged across the brown, rocky terrain, careful to stay away from two nearby geysers as they exhaled steam from below the ground. They would certainly cause the team damage if they were to touch the steam, but these small geysers would prove to be useful later in the Act.

Scampering around the area were new Badniks, like the foxy Kit-Cingy, whose hose-like fox tail would blow out small flames; and Vultorch, a dive-bombing Vulture-shaped aeroplane. Also making an appearance were Flame Orbinauts, who were almost exactly like their original models, except their spike balls were replaced by balls of fire.

Julie came with a gun, so shooting Badniks at a certain distance was no problem. The only ones she had to watch out for were the dive-bombing bird baddies, which seemed to come out of nowhere. There was them, and the random rivers of lava to jump over that proved to be a bit difficult, as the team crept ever closer to the volcano. Fortunately there were stacks of Rings in the area as well…

**Ring Count: 3… 6… 10… 15**

Julie was quick on her feet, jumping from rock to rock as she crossed one river after another. Fireballs were coming at her from the sides, but it was yet unclear where they were coming from.

"Let me try!" called out Antoine from behind, and he was tagged into play.

Antoine was also fleet-footed, but his sword was no good for long-ranged attacks- at least not while he was in this beginner's level. He would have to collect some Power Points if he had hopes of becoming more useful.

But for now, he was quick to dodge the oncoming fireballs, perhaps shot out from Flame Orbinauts that were hiding in the mist, and whenever a Kit-Cingy or Vultorch came at him, a swing of his blade was all it took to destroy them. He then hopped over rocks to climb atop a small cliff to open a Ten-Ring Box.

**Ring Count: 25**

He then rolled down the other side of the cliff by tucking himself into a ball, managing to roll over a Kit-Cingy.

"Your turn, mon ami!" he called out, tagging Julie.

Julie-Su picked up the pace by running through a small tunnel, bagging Rings in the process.

**Ring Count: 30**

She jump-attacked two Vultorches as they dived down from the air upon her exit of the cavern. She then had to skid to a halt before running into a gas-spewing geyser, sighing in relief as it just missed her.

She turned right, and followed a small stream of lava toward high ground. Quickly, she scaled the cliff with her Stealth attribute, meaning she didn't need a boost of energy like a Spin Dash to get up there. Once on the higher level of rock, she could see the landscape more clearly. The volcano was still taking up most of the background, but there were clearly some Ring patches and Badniks in the near distance. She raced across the cliff toward the Rings.

**Ring Count: 36…40… 45**

"Awesome," she cheered.

When she reached the edge of the road, she saw that three geysers from the ground were spewing up three rocks, making a sort of airborne highway for her to jump across. She took advantage of it, hopping on one boulder after another, before the steam disappeared and made them drop back to the earth. And there were Rings in the air to grab too.

**Ring Count: 49… 51… 54**

"Nice."

The last boulder led her to another ramp of solid rock, which she rolled across in a sort of Spin Dash. The ramp looped in a semi-circle downward, toward the ground level. There, a Flame Orbinaut was waiting with its fireballs in tact. It nearly got her, but she jumped over it at the last second.

The ground rumbled and shook slightly under her feet, causing her to pause. When it settled, she ran back on course, toward another river of lava. This one was so wide, it required her to cross it by jumping from molten rock to molten rock, as they oozed on down the river. She just barely made it across, but Antoine wasn't so lucky. Fortunately, he took no damage thanks to the fact that Julie had the Rings.

Mist was piling up in the distance, and the sounds of gas spewing meant that there had to be geysers nearby. The team had no choice but to push forward, toward the misty fog.

"Allow me!" called Antoine from behind, as he was tagged into play.

Suddenly, as the mist consumed them, a fireball shot out at Antoine. He jumped over it, and decided to follow where it came from. Interestingly enough, another fireball came spinning toward him, only now he could see that it wasn't caused by a Badnik; rather, a large statue of an Egyptian sphinx! This sphinx was made purely out of the molten rock of the earth, molded perhaps by local felines? Again, it spat out a fireball from its mouth, dodged once again by Antoine. He swung his sword at its head, but no damage was done. It seemed this sphinx was indestructible.

"Hmph," huffed Antoine in frustration, and he moved on.

Antoine ran as fast as he could through the fog, allowing more fireballs to light his way while dodging their paths. He could also see the glowing red eyes of oncoming Badniks, like a Kit-Cingy and Vultorches. They were no match for his sharp sword.

Only one known line of Rings was available in this area.

**Ring Count: 54- 60**

"Not bad, eh?" he softly gloated.

"My turn?" requested Julie-Su, tagging herself in.

Julie was stealthy enough to use twenty of their Rings to jump ahead into the next area, which was fog-free.

**Ring Count: 40**

It was just as well, as this would turn out to be the last stage of the act. The ground rumbled violently, and below their feet the earth cracked into shards. It was apparent that this was no true earth they were standing on, but molten magma that had hardened over time.

The cracks gave way to widening chasms, as yellow light glimmered between the cracks, indicating that there was lava within the pits. Julie, luckily, was a long-jumper, and so she flocked from one earth shard to the next with hardly any trouble.

And though she could have just pushed straight forward, she also jumped left and right to grab some more Rings that hung in mid-air suspension between chasms.

**Ring Count: 40… 43… 46… 49… 52**

On the last jump before hitting solid ground, Julie noticed an oncoming Flame Orbinaut. She allowed it to get close enough to unleash its fireballs at her. After jumping the first two, she achieved a clear shot at its center, and fired her gun. Instantly, the Orbinaut vanished with a "Poof."

Julie then leaped forward to the glowing checkpoint awaiting her…

…

**- ACT I CLEARED! -**

**Ring Count: 52**

**Power Points: 1052+**

**Rank: A (Very Good!)**

…

**- ACT II -**

**Song: In the style of Dick Dale's "Miserlou," theme of **_**"Pulp Fiction"**_

_RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE!_

Another violent earthquake stunned the duo, only this time there was no escaping the chasm that broke beneath their feet. They both screamed as they fell freely down a void, but not to their deaths. Instead, they landed onto an earthly slide; Julie had tucked herself into a ball to roll down like a speeding pink bowling ball.

The slide twisted and turned, and gave way to an underground labyrinth, where random lava-falls cascaded down from the surface above. Streams of lava were now rivers in full glory, with only a few rocks between their edges to jump across.

Still in the lead, Julie pushed forward, over said rocks across a river of flowing yellow magma. On the other side, she followed a pathway of soft dirt toward a small cave, where Rings were waiting. For every cave, there was a soft blue glow, contrast to the red and yellow elsewhere; there were also small shards of blue-green crystals within the caves, acting as stalactites or stalagmites.

This first small cave was merely a short tunnel, a prelude to more challenging locations.

**Ring Count: 6**

Surely, the team was not alone. Crawling across the walls were Caterkiller Juniors; bright blue bots that patrolled the scene without a care on the world. They were easy targets for Julie's gun, but she was too much in a hurry to shoot them all.

Julie hopped over another set of rocks across a lava river, only she had to be careful as to not jump straight into a fireball that was spat out from the magma. On the other side waiting for her were more Rings.

**Ring Count: 9**

"It's getting hot in here," she thought aloud.

A fork was in the road, both leading to dark blue-hued tunnels. She took the one on the left, which had Rings encased in crystal. She jump-attacked one after another to claim her prizes.

**Ring Count: 12… 15… 18… 21**

Upon exiting the cave, Antoine stepped into the lead; "Pardone moi," he said gentlemanly.

Antoine kept jogging until he came up to two pit holes in his path; jumping out of each of them was a Burrobot, but he was unphased. Slashing at them, he yelled, "Ha! En guarde!" _Slash, slash!_

He then kept on running forward, but had to stop as soon as a gallon of lava poured downward in front of him. When the road was clear, he then inched forward, and realized that he had come to a dead-end and that the lava fell straight down to a lower level of the playing field.

Still keeping his cool, Antoine turned right, and followed a small slipping-slide downward; like Julie before him, he too tucked into a ball and rolled like a ball.

**Ring Count: 26**

Antoine had enough momentum in his slide to roll straight through a line of Rings, and then jumped back onto his feet. He could see that he had to cross another river of lava, this one much wider than the previous two. He waited for a small rock to flow his way, and jumped onto it. As it oozed down to the left, he waited patiently for the next rock, and jumped on that one. It swayed right this time, and over three more Rings.

**Ring Count: 29**

Finally, a third rock flowing by; Antoine jumped on it, almost missing it due to poor timing. But he was safe, and hopped across to the other side of the river, where a Caterkiller Junior was waiting for him. _Slash!_ Went his sword.

"Touche!" he cheered.

"My turn?" asked Julie behind him.

"By all means," he smiled, and tagged her into the lead.

Julie, proving to be faster than Antoine, darted across the field toward another cave. This one had two crystallized Ten-Ring boxes for her to smash open, but she had to do so by jumping on them twice: first to free the box, second to free the Rings.

**Ring Count: 39- 49**

"Yes!" she cheered, knowing that she was now at half strength.

She ran forward in the cave, and realized that it was now sloping into a downward corkscrew. With her momentum picking up, she seemed to be scaling the walls as she ran, but actually it was lack of gravity that was making her spin around. She was quick to dodge oncoming blue crystals, as their sharp edges may have damaged her.

The cave then opened up to another slide, which she rolled downward, passing by a lovely lava-fall in the background.

Back on solid ground, Julie swept across the field, following the river instead of crossing it this time, for fear of the Caterkiller Juniors on the other side. She shot at them, only hitting two and missing tree others.

She then jumped over a small pit hole, just before its Burrobot could surprise her.

Three more Burrobots were charging at her, not bothering with the sneaky attacks from below. This would have been a good time to either jump ahead by Stealth, or performing a special attack. But instead, Julie faced them head-on and shot them down at point-blank range.

"Not bad!" cheered Antoine from behind her.

"Why thank you," she replied.

"Pardone moi, may I cut in?" he politely requested.

"Hold on!" she gasped, not relinquishing her lead for fear of the upcoming chasm blocking her path. She skidded to a halt, and then activated her Stealth jump to pass over it unharmed.

**Ring Count: 29**

"My bad," she frowned.

"Zat is okay," smiled Antoine. "Better safe zen sorry, yes?"

She then tagged him into play; "Merci!" he responded.

Antoine had the choice of moving left or right; he chose left this time, and followed the path down another downward spiral. This one proved to be littered with Rings, and as he collected them he could see two cascading lava-falls in the background.

**Ring Count: 29- 39**

So far, they seemed safe, but only because they were quick on their feet. Now, patience was what was acquired, as Antoine found himself at the edge of the largest lava river yet- nearly ten feet long, at least.

He waited for a boulder to swim his way, and as he jumped on it, he waited for the next one as it pushed him to the right. A Flame Orbinaut was in his path, and so he had to hop over its shooting flames before smacking it with his sword.

"I can fight!" said Julie, tagging herself into play as soon as she realized she had prey to catch.

Antoine may have gotten the first Orbinaut, but the rest were Julie's. She crossed over to the next swimming boulder, and shot down the second oncoming Orbinaut. Even before she reached her next boulder, she had the third Badnik in her sights and shot it down from a long range.

Jumping onto the third boulder, it started to tip to the side. Julie had to balance it out by standing on its opposite edge, careful not to fall into the yellow magma. She would have to do this a fourth time, now closing in on the end of the river.

There were five more Rings to jump for in the air, but as Antoine said earlier, it was better to be safe than sorry. So she let them pass, as she hopped over to the fifth and final swimming boulder.

Then, to her surprise, the boulder and the lava's flow came to a dead halt.

"What the?" she gasped…

_RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE- __**WHOO-OO-OO-OO-OOSH!**_

As the earth shook once more, Julie glanced behind her, and couldn't believe her eyes: a tidal wave of lava was flowing her way! She and Antoine screamed, but as the tidal wave picked them up, they realized that the boulder they were standing on was actually a blue crystal. The crystals within the caves proved to be indestructible, and therefore safe to stand on even in the case of lava flow. And so, Julie and Antoine stood balancing themselves on the crystal, as though it were a surf board.

"Zee surf, she is up! Yes?"

"Very funny, Frenchie!"

But indeed, they really were surfing! On _lava_, no less!

Much to their delight, all oncoming Badniks had no chance of escaping the wave's flow, and were therefore taken into its undertow. All Julie and Antoine had to worry about were two things: Rings to grab, and the wave's inner tube to dodge.

**Ring Count: 49… 52… 55… 58… 64**

"Hurry!" shouted Julie, as they directed the crystal surfboard away from the wave's inner tube.

**Ring Count: 68… 73… 77… 79**

"Hurry!"

**Ring Count: 81… 85… 88**

"Hurry!"

**Ring Count: 91… 95… 99**

"Hurry!"

**Ring Count: 101- FULL POWER! -103… 105… 110**

"JUMP!"

As the tidal wave was coming to a pit that would turn it into a lava-fall, Julie and Antoine jumped as far as they could to reach the edge of the cliff ahead. They just barely grabbed it with their front paws, and dug deep into it before climbing to the safety of the edge.

There, the lava-fall filled the void, turning the area into a mini-lake surrounded by walls of earth and rock. And here, the adventurers came to a stop.

…

**- ACT II CLEARED! -**

**Ring Count: 110**

**Power Points: 10,000+ - UPGRADE! Antoine and Julie-Su now have stronger weapon attacks!**

**Rank: A+ (Perfect!)**

…

"Ha-HA!" laughed Antoine as he flipped his sword in the air, then catching its handle. "I vish ze others could have seen us on zat surfboard, yes?"

"It was… interesting," nodded Julie-Su, cracking a noticeable smile.

"Ah-ah-ah," smiled the coyote widely, "I sink I've noticed you smiling jest now, cherie."

"What? Oh, don't be ridiculous," she was quick to deny, turning her head away.

"It's perfectly fine to enjoy yourself, Julie-Su. Don't be such a… how you say, stickin' ze mud?"

"Hmph!"

"Aw, I vas just joking. Heh, heh-heh-heh! We survived anyway, no?"

"No," purred a deep voice. "Not yet, you haven't."

The team gasped in surprise, as a bulky figure jumped in front of them from a small cave up ahead. The brutish beast was a feline- perhaps a cross between a lynx and a tiger, for he was striped and orange but with long pointy ears. He was also sporting a pair of robotic arms with long talons for fingers. He was also dressed in red armor with silver shoulder pads- or perhaps they were cyber-shoulders. Either way, he was clearly a cyborg cat.

At first, Antoine and Julie-Su were speechless; then Julie asked the new character, "Who are you!… Aren't you part of the Felidae Kingdom? …Speak!"

At first, the big brute huffed at them. He didn't feel any need to inform these rebels of his personal life. They didn't have to know that he was, indeed, a former member of this once great kingdom, and had switched sides after a humiliating defeat by his new master, Dr. Robotnik. He didn't have to tell them that Robotnik offered him a new life and new arms, in exchange for his undivided loyalty, and how he simply couldn't refuse the offer. No, none of that needed to be known, as far as he was concerned.

"My name is Razorklaw; that is all you need to know. Remember who it was that sent you to your doom."

"He is clearly a mad-cat, no?" whispered Antoine to his tag partner.

Julie replied softly, "You hit 'im low, I'll hit 'im high."

But just then, the battlefield shook furiously. The volcano they were hiding inside was about to erupt!

…**..FOO-OO-OO-OO-OOM!**

Lava surrounded the platform until there was nothing left but a small circle, one which the animals could just barely walk across. To make matters worse, the lava pushed the rock upward, toward the surface like soda rising from a shaken bottle.

The battle had begun, on an upward-moving platform with lava spewing from all sides.

…

**- MINI-BOSS FIGHT: vs. RAZORKLAW -**

**Song: Orchestral Remix of "Mini-Boss" theme of **_**"Sonic 3 and Knuckles"**_

**Ring Count: 110**

At last, the time had come for their special attack, and at just the right time. Antoine and Julie paid up one hundred Rings…

"TEAM-UP!" they both shouted.

Antoine's sword magically merged with Julie's gun, and together they fired a barrage of mini-daggers at their enemy, called "Shooting Daggers."

Razorklaw blocked most of the attack, but it still counted as three simultaneous hits. Already, they had just two or three left to go. This only made him angrier than before.

"RAWR!" he roared, slashing out at them with lasers shooting from his bionic claws.

**Ring Count: 0- 5**

"Zut alors!" gasped Antoine as he grabbed five Rings before he and Julie lost all their power.

Despite the lack of ground beneath them, Razorklaw charged forward, trying to knock Antoine off the edge. But Julie shot at him from the other side, causing him to deflect her attack instead.

As she was now in play, Razorclaw went after her, but Julie jumped before he could scratch her. She could see that she had a very small window of opportunity before firing her next shot.

"Allow me!" insisted Antoine, tagging himself into play.

Antoine was perfect for this fight, as he was designed for close-range combat. Sword met claws, scraping and tearing, but both seemed easily matched. It was only when Razorklaw tried to swipe Antoine from above that he gave away his soft spot in the middle. Antoine slashed him.

Razorklaw jumped back, injured and furious. Too quickly was this fight determining its winners, and so he became desperate. With his steely claws, he scooped up a piece of burning earth and tossed it at Antoine. He took the hit; "Augh!"

**Ring Count: 0- 4**

Julie grabbed four Rings, but they were now at their weakest yet. But she knew that if anyone cold cream this cat, it was her Tag Partner.

Antoine's sword slashed at Razorklaw again, and he blocked it with his metallic arms. The big cat then lashed back, colliding with the sword. Back and forth they went, as their playing field came ever closer to the top of the volcano.

Finally, Razorklaw tried one more swipe from above, and Antoine flung his sword at the cat's chest.

"AUGH!" roared the cat in pain. He then fell to his knees and doubled over, defeated.

…

**- MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED! -**

"Go team!" cheered Julie-Su."

"Merci beaucoup," smiled Antoine proudly.

…

**FOO-OO-OO-OO-OO-OO-OO-OOM!**

The lava reached the top of the volcano, spitting out the adventurers and their moving platform. As they fell, Razorklaw went in one direction, while Julie grabbed onto Antoine in another and used the last of her Rings to stealthily warp to the earth safely.

They landed hard on the ground, where the volcano was too far to harm them with its spewing magma and rock. They watched its fury in awe, when Antoine gasped.

"Ah!" He realized that his small quaff of yellow hair was on fire, and he quickly smothered it with his sword. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Le-ow! Ow! …Whew… Zat was close."

Julie paused before grimly asking, "Where's Razorklaw…?"

They fell silent, as one of Razorklaw's metallic arms drifted across a river of magma before melting into it with a sizzle. That would be the last they would see of the deranged cyber-cat. Julie-Su cringed at the gruesome sight.

"…I sink it's time vee moved on, yes?" asked Antoine softly.

"Oui," nodded Julie-Su.

It was off to the Crystal Caves from there.

…

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	14. Guilty By Association

**14. "Guilty By Association"**

…

Within the hour, the rest of the adventurers made it to Lava Reef Zone, but were too late to catch up with Antoine and Julie-Su. Leading the way were Sonic and Sally, followed closely behind by Amy, Bunnie, Tails and Rotor.

They stopped by a certain stream of lava where the ashes of a burnt piece of metal were laying to waste. The team looked it over, believing it to be the remains of a Badnik, when-

**Bee-ee-ee-eep!** _"Sally? Sally, are you there? It's Nicole."_

Sally reached into the pocket of her vest and pulled out her cell phone-like communicator. "…Yes, Nicole? I'm here."

"_Sally, I've just done some research on the recent battle. Apparently, Antoine and Julie-Su had defeated a former member of the Felidae royal guard."_

"You mean," replied Sonic softly, as he listened in; "someone betrayed them?"

Hearing him, Nicole replied through the phone, _"Not just someone; a former champion by the name of Razorklaw. But what's worse is that he wasn't the only one hired by Robotnik. After glancing into my Eye, I've seen a growing army of animal folk-turned cyborgs, all willingly siding with Robotnik- perhaps out of fear, or for their own personal gain."_

"That's just great," frowned Sally. "So now we have to deal with Badniks, SWATbots, _and_ cyborgs."

"_There is a bit of good news, though; I can tell from a map on my wall that you're less than a mile away from the Crystal Caves. You just need to keep heading North by Northeast, and-"_

…

"_NICOLE!"_

Nicole gasped in surprise, while standing by her crystal orb in her secret chamber. She heard the booming voice of the king calling out to her through an intercom.

"_Nicole, are you there? Report immediately to the throne room!"_

She hesitated at first, then spoke through her cell phone, "Sally, I must go for now. I'll be in touch." Then she hung up.

It had been a while since King Maximillian called upon Nicole to his throne room, so when he did call for her she was quick to respond. He sat at his throne, tapping rather impatiently at his chair arm, when the brown lynx in the purple exotic dress appeared through a trap door.

She humbly bowed before him, not suspecting a thing. "You summoned me, Sire?"

The king's eyes glanced away, toward a small pillar on a wall on the far end of the room. Atop of it lay a glass case with what appeared to be the Sol Emerald, glowing purple.

"Tell me, Nicole, what do you see over there by the curtain?"

She followed his gaze to the pillar. "…The Sol Emerald, sir?"

"Yes, it would appear to be an emerald, now wouldn't it?" His tone seemed calm enough, and his eyes soft enough to be believable. "See how it glows so, like a miniature sun, lighting up the room like that?"

She smiled, "It is lovely, isn't it?"

Then his eyes turned back to her. "..Why are you lying to me?"

Nicole gasped, her long ears perking upward in alarm. "…S-sire?"

"You're lying to me. That's not the Sol Emerald at all; it's a fake. I didn't notice it at first, but now I can clearly see that its glow is coming from the window on the opposite wall. You placed it just at the right spot, so that the sun's reflection would make it glow."

Feeling trapped, Nicole felt the urge to gulp as her ears pinned back with both fear and guilt. "I… I…"

"No matter," sighed the king, still maintaining his cool. "I figured you would do something like this; you were always so loyal to my wayward daughter."

"My king… Please… I."

"I understand, Nicole. Really, I do. She's your friend, and you owed her for saving you before. …But time is now of the essence; we must get both her and the Sol Emerald back before they're captured. …We both know what would happen if she were to be captured. …Where is she, Nicole?"

The lynx tilted her head away in shame. "She's in the Felidae Kingdom."

The king then pressed down on his throne's arm, which had a hidden button. The button alarmed his most faithful knight, Geoffrey Saint John, to come marching into the room.

"Sir Geoffrey," said the king. "My daughter has taken our Sol Emerald to the Felidae Kingdom, and is probably moving fast. I'm sending you and a knight of your choice to that island. Your one goal is to find the girl and her emerald, and bring them back to me. Understood?"

"Of course, Sire," bowed Geoffrey, before he made his quick exit.

When they were alone once more, the king and his consort made eye contact.

"You do understand, this is for her own good."

"I understand, Your Majesty… F-forgive my betrayal."

"No need. You may go now."

After finally taking a breath, Nicole slid back down her secret passageway to her chambers of solitude.

She stared blankly at her All-Seeing Eye, wondering if she should warn her dear friend of the oncoming knights. Then she wondered why she was wondering; _of course_ she would warn her! Her service may have been to the king, but her loyalty…

"O Great All-Seeing Eye, please show me the safest, quickest way through the caves…"

…

**Bee-ee-eep!**

"Oh! There's Nicole again," gasped Sally, as she and her team were halfway to their goal. She picked up the phone. "Nicole?"

"_Sally… I'm so sorry."_

"Nicole, what's wrong?"

"_I had to tell him, Sally… He knows I put a false emerald in the throne room. I should have known he was too clever… He's sending a small team of knights to come fetch you."_

Sally gulped. "…By the time they get here, we'll be in Canus Kingdom with two emeralds."

"_Sally, please! …Be careful out there."_

"Don't worry, Nicole. I know what I'm doing. And thanks." As she hung up the phone, Sonic noticed the gloom written all over her face.

"Sal?"

"It's my father; he's trying to intercept my emerald."

Bunnie heard this and replied, "Sally-girl, maybe we shoulda left it behind. It was safer back there, y'know?"

"Maybe, but if Blaze is enslaved as I think she is, then we'll need Amy to free her."

"Right," nodded Sonic in agreement. Then he noticed that a certain pink fangirl was out of sight. "…Amy?"

"YES, SONIC! I'LL BE YOUR TAG PARTNER!" She came flying out of nowhere just to tackle and squeeze him. "Oh, thank you so much for asking me! I knew you cared!"

"Eeh… urk! …ugh… N-o… no problem," he choked. Clearly, this was not what he had in mind, but he was backed into a corner now.

Sally watched this, and couldn't help but chuckle. "…Whenever you love birds are ready."

Sonic grimaced at her while Amy snuggled him rather violently.

…

Meanwhile, another duo had already made it to the Crystal Cave's entrance, and saw that it was being blocked by three brutish cyborg cats.

Shadow shot a look at Knuckles. "I don't like you."

Knuckles shot one right back. "I don't like you either, but we don't have a choice now, do we?"

"Grr… Let's get this over with."

…

**- NEW TEAMS! -**

**TEAM LAVENDER**

**Sonic (Speed-Type) and Amy (Heal-Type)**

**.**

**TEAM CHAOS CONTROLLERS**

**Knuckles (Power-Type) and Shadow (Stealth-Type)**

…

**LOADING ZONE…**


	15. CRYSTAL CAVES ZONE: Chaos, Lavender

**15. "Between a Rock and a Hard Place"**

…

**- CRYSTAL CAVES ZONE -**

**- ACT I -**

**Team Chaos Controllers**

Knuckles and Shadow found themselves standing outside a gigantic marble sphinx, with a lion's head instead of a human's. Between its front legs was the entrance to the Crystal Caves themselves. The doors flew open, and the team entered with Shadow taking the lead.

"Watch and learn," he said sternly.

The cave's first room was pitch black, save for a small torch hanging on the left wall. Shadow grabbed it and held on tightly; when he jumped, the torch twirled with him, giving off a small halo of flame. This would serve as the team's main source of light during the act; the only way they could see oncoming Badniks or other enemies would be if the opposition had glowing red eyes.

But there were other hidden traps to consider as well; such as shooting spikes from the floor or walls, and moving platforms, and trap doors that needed to be triggered by a small lever which the second teammate would have to pull on. All of this, within a maze-like cave made up of chiseled amethyst.

Four cyber-limbed cat-soldiers lined up before him; easy targets for an armed hedgehog. Shadow shot them down with clear shots to their chests; however, the wounds weren't fatal. Instead of falling, they disappeared in an orb of light, just as the defeated Dark Legionnaires had in a previous Zone.

As Shadow moved forward, he was confronted by a drop-ceiling that moved up and down rhythmically. Timing his spin-dash right, he darted past it. Upon entering the next room, he could see glowing eyes hovering in mid-air; they turned out to be the eyes of four Badniks known as Bubbles. Bubbles were helium-lifted balloons with darting spikes on their bodies; one badly-timed hit and Shadow would be tagged out before he could blink. But being a shooter, he targeted their eyes and fired. He was then awarded with a line of Rings.

**Ring Count: 6**

On a nearby wall was a small lamp; shadow ignited it with his small torch, and much of the room was illuminated. Now he could clearly see a platform up ahead, along with spikes protecting it.

Shadow jumped upward a staircase to the next level, where it was pitch-dark again. More glowing eyes in the distance indicated more Bubbles.

"Tag me!" insisted Knuckles, but Shadow declined. Instead he jump-attacked the floating eyes, caring not whether they were spiked or not. As he jumped around, he accidentally collected Rings that were hiding in the pitch black.

**Ring Count: 11**

He skated across the floor, almost straight into a collapsing ceiling. Saving himself, he waited for it to move upward, and once it did he skated across. But then a downward drop caught him off guard, but at least some Rings were found during the fall.

**Ring Count: 17**

As he landed, Shadow found himself in a narrow space. He lit a lamp on the wall, and could see a row of Spikers- Badniks disguised as common spikes. As he raced across the hall, two Borrobots came darting out from the wall. The black hedgehog spin-dashed right through them, before using a Spiker to bounce himself up to the next level.

"Tag me!" Knuckles pleaded again.

This time, Shadow responded: "If you insist."

After being tagged, Knuckles jumped onto a moving platform to use as leverage for his glide. In mid-air, his torch light picked up signs of Rings floating around. He was quick to grab them.

**Ring Count: 24**

He then turned around in mid-glide; he wanted to explore this strange cave more than Shadow did. Upon reaching a wall, he dug his claw-like knuckles into it and moved upward, into a hidden area where two Ten-Ring boxes were waiting.

**Ring Count: 44**

"Alright," he smiled as he jumped into a glide.

Again, Knuckles glided across the otherwise difficult room, seeing spike pits and gently floating over them. But once he landed-

"Tag me, you fool!" was what he got.

Shadow was tagged back in, and he skated across the floor in record speed. He passed by two Bubbles floating through the darkness, not bothering with shooting them. He was stopped by a Spiker, whose spikes were more like springs than a true threat. He hopped onto it, and it sent him flying onto a platform with a Shield box. He hit it, and an orb of soft blue light covered him.

Suddenly, a small fireball flew past his head. It was coming from the higher level; when he jumped up to it, he could see that it was coming from a sphinx statue. Apparently, there were sphinx guardians all over this place, much like in Lava River Zone. He sped past it on his rocket boots, grabbing three Rings in the process.

**Ring Count: 47**

Two cat-borgs jumped out of nowhere, blocking his path. They seemed to be no more than smaller, generic forms of Razorklaw. Regardless, Shadow knocked them on their rumps within seconds.

Right behind them was another lamp; once Shadow lit it, he could see that he had two optional rooms to enter. The left one, as it turned out, had a Ten-ring box…

**Ring Count: 57**

The room on the right led to another staircase, which led to more darkness. He waited for eyes to show up, but there was nothing.

"Let me at 'em" cried out Knuckles from behind.

"If you insist."

Knuckles moved around until he came to a wall, and dug his fists into it. He didn't know it, but he was climbing over well-hidden obstacles, including a giant pendulum made of quartz. He then found a moving platform which carried him across to another level of the cave.

Landing on the next floor, Knuckles heard the unmistakable sound of rocks slamming against each other. Creeping closer with torch in hand, he found the wall trap- two walls slamming against each other vertically.

He tagged in Shadow; "Out of my way," huffed the hedgehog, as he skated past the wall trap with ease. He was welcomes on the other side by a set of Rings.

**Ring Count: 62**

He found another lamp, and once the room was illuminated, he was greeted by four cat-borgs armed with swords. He shot down two and jumped on the heads of the others; this was looking too easy as they were all teleported away.

Crossing through a hallway, he was caught off guard for the first time by a Burrorbot that plowed through a side wall. As they collided, the Shield disappeared. Angered, Shadow spun into the Badnik, shredding it to pieces. He would do the same thing to two more Burrobots before making it past the hallway.

Next, he came to another pitch-black area. He had to be extra careful now; two hidden sphinxes and a wall loaded with spikes awaited him. And worse yet, there was no lamp this time. Shadow would have to jump around over and over again until he memorized where the spikes were. He then noticed one heap of spikes with a pair of eyes on them; it was a Spiker, cleverly hidden in the middle of the heap! Shadow jumped over one pile of spikes and onto the Spiker, which catapulted him onto a small cliff where an Invincibility box was waiting.

"Now we're talking!" exclaimed Knuckles, as he was tagged into play.

While temporarily invincible, Knuckles plowed through one, two, three, _four _wall traps waiting in line! He was using his Power prestige, of course, but it still looked too easy for him. However, the invincibility proved its worth once he had to climb up a staircase with four fire-spitting sphinxes. Along the way, he raised the Ring-count meter…

**Ring Count: 65… 69… 72**

When the invincibility wore off, Knuckles had the choice to either glide across the next level, or fall downward to the ground where cat-borgs were waiting. He took the high road, which rewarded him with even more Rings.

**Ring Count: 79**

"Tag me, you fool!"

Shadow was tagged into play, just as Knuckles landed safely on a moving platform. The platform moved toward a cliff, where there seemed to be nothing. But shadow was no fool; he spin-dashed through a boulder and into a secret room where a Ten-Ring box was located.

**Ring Count: 89**

"I'm impressed," smiled Knuckles from behind.

While it was still very dark, Shadow could pin-point the eyes of the cat-borgs waiting on the ground level. He picked them off one by one with his Ballista-guns, which were growing in power. Once the room seemed clear, he took a leap of faith downward.

He could hear the next wall trap up ahead, but he was careful to find a torch lamp first. He moved slowly across the room, until he walked past what appeared to be a kindle for dynamite.

"A trap!" gasped Knuckles; he and Shadow ran in the opposite direction, thinking that the dynamite was close by. But fortunately for them, all it did was clear a large boulder of crystal that was blocking their progress. Or, perhaps the enemies planted it there so that they would assume it was safe. Either way, Shadow resumed his run.

"Let me at 'em!" requested Knuckles. Once tagged, he followed the path of the dynamite's destruction, into a room that sparkled in complete crystal form. He could also see that he was not alone; three cat-borgs armed with crystal-shard spears were waiting for him. Knuckles spin-dashed into one and drop-kicked the second before smacking his clawed fist into the third. He then came across more Rings…

**Ring Count: 95**

"Let's get 'em!" he cheered.

Another set of collapsing walls was waiting for him, but being a Power-type, Knuckles cleared them by sheer brute force. On the other side were three floating Rings.

**Ring Count: 98**

"I'll show you how it's done!" claimed Shadow as he was tagged into the lead.

While skating across a narrow hallway of purple crystal, Shadow grabbed more than enough Rings to secure his and Knuckles' prowess.

**Ring Count: 106- FULL POWER!**

"Full Power!" exclaimed the Ultimate Life Form.

And just in time; the next room was jam-packed with spikes on the floor and walls, along with seven cat-borgs and more than a few Bubbles awaiting them. It was time to end this quickly.

Giving up 100 of their Rings, the duo activated their "TEAM-UP! …CHAOS BLAST!"

The red echidna and black hedgehog were both engulfed in dark-red, electrical orbs. Then, after their orbs connected through a lightning bolt, the charge spewed across the playing field, leveling everything-including the pit traps and spikes.

**Ring Count: 6**

Their victory secured, Shadow led the duo by skating across the plain and straight toward the check point.

Knuckles jumped with enthusiasm. "Now_ that_ was a sweet run!"

Dusting his arms, Shadow held back his own enjoyment. "I hope you learned something from this."

…

**- ACT I CLEARED! -**

**Ring Count: 6**

**Power Points: 10,006+- UPGRADE! Shadow and Knuckles have grown stronger!**

**Rank: A+ (Excellent!)**

…

**- ACT II -**

**Music: "Dreams of an Absolution" from **_**"Sonic '06"**_

**Team Lavender**

Not too long after Team Chaos Controllers had made their run, another Team was on its way through the treacherous cave. Once they were past the first Act, their leader- Sonic- lit up the final torch light. This gave off a chain reaction of torch lights all over the second Act, illuminating everything. But of course, just because they could foresee danger, it didn't mean they were completely safe.

"Here we go," smiled Sonic as he spin-dashed toward his first obstacle: a slamming-wall trap. After it was cleared, he snagged the first three of many more Rings to come.

**Ring Count: 3**

Sonic was careful to jump over the heads of sphinx statues as he hopped up a staircase leading to the next level of the cave. There, he could clearly see three Bubbles floating around, their spikes popping in and out of their blue centers. They were hardly a threat, except he wanted the Rings that were floating just above them. He used his homing attack to jump onto one Bubble-bot, allowing it to catapult him further upward and within grabbing range of his prizes. He then ricocheted off a second Bubble-bot to repeat the structure.

**Ring Count: 6… 9**

Dodging the third Badnik, Sonic proceeded to jump onto a hovering platform that carried him onto another playing field, one guarded by cat-borg soldiers. These nuisances would require him to time his attacks; something he just had no time for.

"Ladies?" he cooed, tagging in his partner Amy.

"You're such a gentleman," Amy purred as she came into play, armed with her hammer.

Amy proved to be more than just a cute girl, as she whacked her opponents with her special double-slam attack. As usual, they disappeared ala teleportation. She moved onward.

The next upward slope would prove tricky, as it required her to jump on top of a Spiker that was hidden among real spikes. Unfortunately, her timing was off, and- **Pinch!**

**Ring Count: 0-5**

She was a Healer, after all, and she had a speedy partner to catch some Rings. But still, she was truly disappointed in herself, and so she tagged Sonic.

"Nice!" he chimed, right before he hopped onto the Spiker that would toss him onto the next level.

He landed on a collapsing cliff, and stepped off it in time before it made him fall. Now with a narrower platform, he jumped onto a Ten-Ring box in its corner.

**Ring Count: 15**

Sonic then jumped to the far left, landing onto a floating crystallized platform that carried him over to a hallway. He expected there to be Burrorbots (and he would be right), so he spin-dashed across it. (And they, of course, were pulverized.)

Continuing upward, thanks to a staircase of sphinx heads, Sonic's direction changed back to right-ways. But just as he was picking up, speed-

_**WHAM!**_

A gigantic, perfectly-circular ball of amethyst came crashing down from the ceiling- a trap, perhaps, or just a perfectly-timed collapse. But it was rolling Sonic's way anyway, and so he peeled out his legs before sliding downward on a slope. Two loop-de-loops later, and he flew across a pit, then watched as the crystal boulder fell down into the abyss.

"Whew!" they both sighed in relief.

Sonic dashed across the pathway, dodging oncoming Burrobots and two hovering Bubbles before bouncing onto a Spiker- which led to higher-up Spiker- which led to another level of the cave. Unfortunately, he wasn't careful enough to foresee the spear-thrusting cat-borg that met him on the edge of the cliff.

**Ring Count: 0-8**

"Oh, come on!" shouted Sonic in frustration, as he fell back down to the lower level. He tried again, taking advantage of his temporary vulnerability, and jump-attacked the cat-borg. The cat-borg just happened to be guarding a Ten-Ring Box, plus a Shield box.

**Ring Count: 18**

"Tag me, please!" pleaded Amy, and so Sonic tagged her into play.

Amy hopped across the ledge onto the leftmost one, continuing down a new path that came with a slippery slope that gave her momentum in her stride. She used it to cross over two slamming wall traps just in the nick of time, before snagging more Rings on the other side.

**Ring Count: 23**

An oncoming Bubbles was no match for her hammer, but she was careful to avoid the nearby Orbinaut, which was sporting crystal shards for spike-balls. Unlike previous Orbinauts, this one didn't shoot out its weapons; instead they were pushed outward, then gravitated back to their host like boomerangs.

Two more cat-borgs came running toward her, armed with swords. "Take THIS!" Amy smacked them both with her twirling double-smack attack.

While still shielded, she and her Tag Partner hopped over two pitfalls before grabbing more mid-air Rings.

**Ring Count: 26… 29**

Next came a moving platform crystallized in amethyst, which lifted Am to a swaying block of crystal. Unsure of where it would take her, she gripped onto her hammer. Fortunately, it pushed her into a platform where two Ten-Ring boxes were waiting.

**Ring Count: 39-49**

"Almost there!" cheered Amy, knowing that her Healer prowess only needed fifty Rings for her team to achieve Full Power.

But just as she was celebrating too soon, a cat-borg flung his sword at her while she was in mid-jump, causing her to lose her bubble shield. He was waiting for her on a lower level, but she didn't bother to challenge him.

No worse for wares, Sonic and Amy hopped onto a giant crystal platform shaped like a fallen stalactite, and it slid down a slippery slope before crashing right through three wall traps, shattering them. It was only stopped by a crystallized cliff, onto which Sonic jumped.

"This one's mine!" said Sonic as he was tagged into play.

He seemed to know what was coming, as he spin-dashed through a hallway littered with three hidden Burrobots. While crashing through them, he was stopped by a collapsing ceiling. But it wasn't just a wall trap; instead it came with small stairs which Sonic hopped across.

As he jumped to the next level, and grabbing three more Rings in the process-

**Ring Count: 52**

"Full Power!" cheered the blue hedgehog.

Then came a new challenge; the next hallway came packed with wall-to-wall sphinx heads, all spitting a rhythmic pattern of fireballs. This gave him pause, but then he waited for the first fireball to spit out before spin-dashing past the obstacles.

In the next room, three cat-borgs and two Orbinauts were waiting. There were also two nearby sphinx heads, though they were so far from the hedgehogs that they posed no threat. Still, the team felt outnumbered, and so…

"TEAM-UP!" they shouted.

At the cost of only fifty Rings, Sonic curled up into a ball and proceeded to rev himself up for a spin-dash. While at the same time, Amy cracked her knuckles and pulled out her magic hammer, preparing to use it on her idol.

This special attack, called "Piko-Piko Ball," allowed Amy to use Sonic like a golf ball, and as he was flung by her hammer, he ricocheted off of every opposition in a similar fashion of his own "Sonic Spinball" attack. As with the pinball-like attack, Amy was acting as goalie/pinball flipper, knocking him back into play whenever he came near her. Sonic went so fast, that he even managed to smash the sphinxes on the wall. In just five seconds, the whole playing field was laid to waste by the hyper-spin.

**Ring Count: 2**

After the attack, Sonic paused for a moment to let his dizziness wear off. Then he took the lead once again, jumping onto a stalactite crystal that would slip down a slope and onto the next platform.

Once they were on the next platform-

_**WHAM!**_

Another crystallized boulder came falling from the ceiling and landed behind the hedgehog duo. As it rolled toward them, Sonic and Amy took off down a slippery slope most urgently. Unlike the last boulder roll, this one lasted quite a while, across sloping hills, two loop-de-loops, and even over a ramp that sent the duo leaping onto another pathway.

"Hey, I saw this in a movie once!" exclaimed Sonic as he peeled out.

"Really?" panted Amy from behind. "Do you remember if the heroes _died_!"

Along the path, there were Rings waiting to be snagged.

**Ring Count: 2…6…10…12…18…25**

"JUMP!" hollered Sonic, as he and Amy came to the edge of a steep cliff. In mid-air, they flew across the playing field and nearly missed grabbing onto a steel rod carefully placed on the ceiling. As they dangled there, they watched the crystal boulder fall to it abyssal doom. Then together, they jumped as balls of blue and pink onto the nearest platform, securing their safety.

"Whew!" they sighed again.

Then came one of the last obstacles in their way: four lined up wall traps.

"You're such a gentleman," smiled Amy as Sonic unexpectedly tagged her into play.

Just as he had hoped, Amy swung her hammer at each wall, causing them to shatter as though she were a Power-type. But it was actually her weapon that did the true work; she was merely a hostess for it.

"Nice!" smiled Sonic as he was then tagged into play. It was the perfect combination- her power and his speed, that launched the two of them over one more slope and set of loop-de-loops that shot them over one long hallway and straight across the checkpoint.

"Yay! We did it!" cheered the pink hedgehog.

"It was nothing," smiled the smug blue one.

…

**- ACT II CLEARED! -**

**Ring Count: 25**

**Power Points: 10,025+- UPGRADE! Sonic and Amy have grown stronger!**

**Rank: A+ (Excellent!)**

…

"Well! Looks like the Calvary's arrived," smiled a certain red echidna. Sonic and his team then realized that Shadow and Knuckles were present; they had beaten them to the punch.

"Hey! Knuckles, Shadow," waved Sonic. "Where'd you two come from?"

"We've _been_ here," replied a smug Shadow with his arms crossed. "What took _you_ so long, Faker?"

"Shuddup." Sonic then took a moment to look around. "…Anybody seen the monkey dude?"

"That's Monkey _Khan _to you, hedgehog," replied Ken, as he floated into the scene on his fluffy white cloud. And he wasn't alone; Julie-Su and Antoine were riding the cloud with him.

"Hey, guys!" waved Julie. "Miss us?"

Sonic smiled at them, "We were starting to think you two got lost."

"Nonsense," replied Antoine as she and his Tag Partner jumped to the floor. "Vee simply took a different route."

"We would've gotten here sooner," said Julie as she elbowed Antoine, "if _somebody _hadn't kept stumbling in the dark." Antoine smiled sheepishly.

Sally giggled along with the others, before turning her attention to a nearby tunnel. "Look, there's a light!"

As the gang crossed through the tunnel, they found themselves surrounded by walls of red-violet crystal. It was a fairly large room, and was almost completely empty if not for the giant forge of icy rock in the center.

Monkey Khan floated into the scene on his nimbus cloud, then made a soft landing as it disappeared. He then took the lead ahead of everyone and marched up to the odd stalagmite. To everyone's wonder, he dropped to one knee, genuflecting before it.

"…Show respect, everyone," he muttered. "We are in the presence of royalty."

Sally gasped, "You mean…?"

"Yes," said Ken solemnly. "This is where Princess Blaze made her final stand."

"…Blaze?" blinked Sonic in surprise, realizing that she was trapped inside the icy stone. Though only her silhouette could be seen from within the giant crystal, it was certainly her.

The blue hedgehog, along with the red-headed squirrel, led the rest of the team to Monkey Khan's side.

As he remained genuflecting, Ken explained, "Her majesty, Queen Hathor, had disappeared shortly before the kingdom fell. The princess and I were the only ones that kept these zones safe, until recently. It seems as though Robotnik kept her here, in this frozen prison."

Amy then approached the rock with her hammer clasped in her hands. "Can't we just break it loose?"

"And risk injuring her majesty?" barked Ken angrily.

"I have an idea," came Shadow's voice in the far back. "How about we use the Sol Emerald we have to melt the ice?"

"That sounds like a job for Amy," Sally calmly responded. "Amy, catch."

From her chest, Sally pulled out the purple gem and tossed it to the pink hedgehog. Amy then nodded to Ken, "Don't worry, Ken, I'll be careful."

As the primate stepped back to give her room, Amy held up the emerald to the icy rock in which Blaze was encased. "By the power of Chaos and Balance, of Sun and Moon, I ask that this ice melt and free the princess within. …**Release**!"

A warm purple glow filled the room, and the earth trembled softly beneath everyone's feet. As with previous releases, a sense of calm filled the room even as the light began to dwindle. Then a warm gust of wind swept through everyone's bones, before the scene returned to normal.

Amy had her eyes closed for most of the magical transformation, still holding tightly onto the purple gem. When she opened her eyes to see Princess Blaze, she was prepared with a friendly smile…

"_Urk!"_ she gasped for breath, as Blaze's metallic claw seized her throat.

As everyone else gasped, Sonic's eyes bulged in horror at the sight of his feline friend's new appearance. "Blaze… NO!"

…

**- SELECT YOUR WARRIORS -**

**- MAX: FOUR -**

**Sonic the Hedgehog (Speed-Type****)**

Sally Acorn (Speed-Type)

Miles "Tails" Prower (Flight-Type)

**Monkey Khan (Flight-Type)**

**Knuckles the Echidna (Power-Type)**

Bunnie Rabbot (Power-Type)

**Shadow the Hedgehog (Stealth-Type)**

Julie-Su (Stealth-Type)

Amy Rose (Heal-Type)

Antoine D'Coollette (Weapon-Type)

Rotor Walrus (Swim Type)

…

**LOADING BOSS BATTLE…**


	16. BOSS BATTLE: vs Metal Blaze

**16. "Cat Fight!"**

…

"**Give. Me. The. Sol. Emerald. Pink. Hedgehog."**

Metal Blaze had Amy in a death grip, holding her by the throat with one hand and sporting a small fireball in the other. Amy dangled helplessly, kicking her heels in desperation.

"Let 'er go, Blaze!" cried out Sonic, while the rest of the heroes gasped in horror.

"It's no use, Sonic. She's been Roboticized," frowned Sally in dismay.

Shadow pulled out one of his Ballista-guns and aimed it at Metal Blaze. "I've got a shot; should I take it?"

"No!" replied Knuckles nearby; "I've got a better idea. Brace yourselves, guys!"

The red echidna then channeled all of his energy into his fists, then dropped to his knees while slamming them onto the ground. **BOOM!** The ground quaked, causing Metal Blaze to lose her grip on Amy.

Sonic zipped across the room, scooping up Amy, and carrying her back to his friends in less than a second. "Amy! …Are you okay, Amy?" he panted.

Rubbing her neck, Am replied weakly, "I- I'm okay, I guess… I've still got the emerald."

Sally saw the purple glow of the Sol Emerald and nodded, "That's good; as long as we have it, we can still save Blaze."

"Here Amy, stay back here," Sonic said as he sat her down on the floor. He then rose to his feet and stared down his former feline friend, hands balled into fists. "I guess I have no choice then…"

"I want in," requested Knuckles, stepping up to the plate.

"This is my fight too," insisted Shadow.

"Allow me to assist," pleaded Monkey Khan on his Nimbus cloud. "She is my friend too, after all."

"Okay, guys," nodded Sonic, "it's party time."

From within her imprisoned mind, Metal Blaze was given one brief order from her master, Robotnik: **"Burn them to the ground, Metal Blaze."**

Her black eyes suddenly glew red, a a halo of fire surrounded her briefly, ushering in her attack mode…

…

**- BOSS BATTLE: vs. Metal Blaze -**

**Boss Song: "Scrambled Eggman" from **_**"Project Chaos"**_

**Artists: "BrainCells" and "SnappleMan"**

Metal Blaze opened up with a fearsome fire summon: Fire Twister; it was similar to that of Team Hurricane's special attack, only this twister was made entirely of red flame. While Sonic was in play, he ran across the room to dodge it, while snagging three Rings that happened to be nearby. These Rings would serve as his team's safety net during the battle.

After the attack failed, Metal Blaze zipped left and right to keep Sonic from hitting her. She was fast, even in her metallic form. But once she stopped, she held out her hand and summoned a series of small fireballs. One of them hit Sonic, but he recovered two Rings. He then waited for her to be wide open for attack; but instead, her brief Fire Shield kept him at bay.

Sonic then tagged in Monkey Khan. Instantly, the primate summoned his Nimbus cloud and hovered over Metal Blaze. While safe from harm, he tried to dive-bomb her with his scepter. But she blocked his attacks by raising her arms to hide her head. He then tried a different tactic, summoning a small lightning bolt from his cloud. It stunned her long enough for him to swipe his scepter across her face. One hit.

Enraged, Metal Blaze summoned up her Fire Twister once again, knocking Monkey Khan back down to earth. He recovered only one Ring, but it was enough to keep him in play. His Nimbus cloud was summoned once more to dodge the Fire Twister as it chased him across the room, before Metal Blaze paused.

It was Shadow's turn. He wasted no time in shooting his Ballista-guns at Metal Blaze, but she still kept shielding herself with her Fire Shield. He then changed tactics to skate up to her and perform a spin attack. She dodged it, only aggravating him all the more. Metal Blaze once again zipped left and right to dodge harm, but Shadow kept up with her and managed to spin into her as she made the mistake of following a pattern. Two hits.

Shadow then tagged in Knuckles. Knuckles performed his own special battle attack: Burrow. He seemed to sink into the ground as though it were quicksand, which made Metal Blaze wonder where her enemy went. He then targeted her spot from below, and came popping out with a lethal uppercut- reminiscent of his first encounter with Sonic on Angel Island. She was stunned, and so he punched her head with a double-fist attack. Four hits.

Metal Blaze tried to summon her Fire Shield to injure Knuckles, but he jumped out of the way just in time. As she summoned more fireballs at him, he Burrowed once again. Like before, he targeted his place underneath Metal Blaze's feet, and came flying out with an uppercut to the jaw. Stunned once more, Metal Blaze fell onto her back. Five, six hits.

She started to blink red, indicating that she was nearly defeated. But Metal Blaze had one more sneaky trick up her sleeve: she hovered in the air with her halo of fire, and suddenly small burning meteorites came crashing down onto the earth. This was her ultimate battle move: Engulf. Knuckles couldn't even Burrow in time to save himself, and so he lost his Ring, which was quickly recovered by Sonic.

Back in play, Sonic waited for Metal Blaze to land back down to earth before spin-dashing into her. She shielded his efforts with her arms, and then tried to swipe him with her claws. But the Fastest Thing Alive was too quick for such a cheap shot, and took off running. Metal Blaze tried to chase him, but she was clearly slowing down from exhaustion. She then performed one last Fire Tornado, but Sonic was untouchable. Metal Blaze then summoned up her Fire Shield, just to make sure he didn't get a hit in. But he was patient this time; all he had to do was wait.

And what a payoff that turned out to be, for Metal Blaze was now running back and forth carelessly on the battlefield. It was almost as if she _wanted_ to lose this fight!

"Sorry Blaze, nothing personal."

One spin-dash attack later, and Metal Blaze collapsed onto the floor, her body oozing small electrical currents, and her eye-lights fading to black. She was defeated.

…

**- MISSION:COMPLETE! -**

"Nice work, team!" cheered Sonic, slapping five with Knuckles.

"My pleasure," smiled the echidna.

"Another successful mission," muttered Shadow.

"Thank you for your help, friends," smiled Monkey Khan.

…

Sally and Bunnie helped Amy get back on her feet as she made a quick recovery. "You okay now, sugah-hog?" asked the rab-bot.

"Yeah, thanks guys," nodded Amy with a small smile. She then ran up to the warriors to congratulate them. "Sonic! I knew you could beat her."

"Well," smiled Sonic as he humbly scratched the back of his head, "I've had a little help… Now Amy, about that emerald."

"Oh, of course!" Like before, Amy approached Metal Blaze, who was now too weak to fight. She geld out the purple emerald, more confident now than before. "Princess Blaze, you are hereby freed of your metallic prison. By the powers of Chaos and Nature… **Release!**"

A purple halo of light engulfed the metallic cat before it shattered her metallic persona, giving way to fur and silk.

…

**- YOU'VE RELEASED: BLAZE THE CAT! -**

…

Before she fell on her back, Sonic caught Blaze. There was a small pause before she opened her golden eyes and saw that she was staring him in the face. "…ugh… wha? …s-Sonic?"

"Welcome back, Blaze," he smiled warmly at her.

"Princess!" cheered Monkey Khan, as he genuflected before her. "Thank goodness you're alright. These heroes have freed you from Robotnik's control."

"Robotnik…" whispered the weak she-cat. Then with a blink of her eyes, she gasped, "Oh, no! Robotnik! He… He took control of me?"

"Yeah, but you're okay now," replied Sonic as he helped her to her feet.

The soft purple feline looked him in the eyes. "…You came for me…?"

"Course I did! I never abandon my friends," smiled the blue hedgehog, clasping her hand.

As he and Blaze smiled warmly at each other, Amy and Sally stood nearby. They couldn't help but exchange narrowed eyes of jealousy.

…

**Robotropolis.**

The main city was packed with cyborg animal and human folk, all willing subjects of their self-crowned leader. But while their lives were peaceful at the moment, a sudden flash of light filled the sky. It was coming from the tallest tower- Robotnik's lair.

A giant holographic monitor appeared around the four walls of the dark tower; there was static at first, but then the unmistakable image of Robotnik himself appeared. As it happened, all television sets around the city were hacked into and delivered the same message:

"_Citizens!"_ his voice boomed, seizing their undivided attention. _"I bring you some most unfortunate news: It seems as though our alliance with the Felidae Kingdom has been broken… And who do we have to thank for that? A group of miserable vermin that dare call themselves Freedom Fighters! I had sent out an army of cat-borgs to stop them, but they have failed me…"_

Robotnik then moved slightly away from the camera, to show that he was filming via satellite from his main Roboticization chamber. The citizens of Robotropolis could see the fallen cat-borgs, defeated by the heroes, each one sealed in a glass case while a giant dark machine loomed over them. And on that machine's top shimmered the red Sol emerald.

"_These former warriors have had their shot at proving themselves. But now they, as well as all of you, will see just what happens when my warriors fall."_

Robotnik then pressed a series of buttons off camera, as his cat-borgs began to beg and scream from within their glass cases. Then the screen picked up static, perhaps thanks to the power of the emerald, but it was clear to the horrified citizens on the streets what they were witnessing: a sort of public execution.

When the static cleared, the cat-borgs were now reshaped into fully-robotic versions of themselves. They were now Roboticized.

"_So!"_ boomed Robotnik's voice, _"Let all of Robotropolis know that I will gladly strip you of your free will if you _ever_ fail me in battle! I do hope I have made myself clear, citizens… for this is your first __**and last**__ warning!"_

Then the hologram switched off, leaving the cyborgs trembling in their steely boots.

…

**To Be Continued…**


	17. What A Rush!

**17. "What a Rush!"**

…

**Felidae Kingdom.**

In less than a day, the last of Robotnik's airships were driven off of the massive island of Felidae, as Princess Blaze's army was revived and now firing their weapons at them. From a high cliff in Paradise Hill Zone, the purple Persian watched with crossed arms as the winged fortresses faded into the sky.

"Good riddance," hummed the Persian princess, before turning around for home.

…

There was great celebration throughout the land, though it was a rather quiet ceremony. Those cat-folk who had been liberated through Amy's healing power all gathered in the jungle region to personally thank their heroes.

While Shadow hid in a tree in an almost shy manner, the rest of Sonic's gang took turns shaking hands and getting friendly with the public. Although, two of their members weren't welcomed so suddenly; they being echidnas didn't fair well with the cats.

Knuckles was frequently asked when and how he left the Dark Legion, and the more he was asked these questions, the more it irritated him. "I'm not a Legionnaire. I never was," he would say in his defense. After a while, he finally gave up and took to the canopy to be alone.

Julie-Su, on the other hand, was more open to tell her side of the story. As she said it to Sonic, "I was born and raised under the Dark Legion, but trust me when I say that they weren't always this power-hungry. All we ever wanted to do was improve the lives of others through technology. It was only when that crazed scientist, Doctor Finitevus, took over that things started to go sour."

"So you took off," nodded the blue hedgehog. "That was the smart thing to do."

"Maybe, but now I'm at odds with my sister. As their co-leader, she's become as devious and arrogant as her mate. I can only hope that I can still reason with them before this is all over…" She then looked around in curiosity. "…Where did Knuckles go?"

"Oh, he got tired of the publicity I guess. He took off."

Julie sighed with a frown. "Poor guy… He's probably still struggling with this whole echidnas-are-deemed-evil thing."

"Yeah, that's tough. But Knuckles is a tough guy, he'll get over it."

Suddenly, the booming voice of Monkey Khan rang out: "Make way! Make way for the Princess!"

As Monkey Khan led Blaze into the scene, the cat-folk genuflected before them. Only Sonic and company seemed to show less respect by just standing their ground.

Blaze approached them with a smile. "My friends, it's wonderful! The last of the winged fortresses has left the island. We are now officially liberated!"

Cheers filled the air, from both cats and Freedom Fighters.

The Persian then looked to her closest friend. "Sonic? I've been meaning to talk to you, about how you managed to get here."

"Oh, it was easy! We just jumped through a warp portal on Angel Island."

"Then my plan worked. I remember now, I used my Sol Emerald I had to contact you, and you must have had a Chaos Emerald to get my message."

There was a brief moment of awkward silence before Sonic confessed, "Um, actually, I didn't."

"You… you didn't?" Blaze's smile dropped, not in sorrow but in surprise. "I thought… I had hoped you did…"

"Princess?" muttered a curious Monkey Khan.

Blaze then paused for a silent moment to recollect her thoughts, while her company waited. Then she looked back to Sonic and said, "This is incredible. You had no Chaos energy, and yet you heard my cries for help… Do you realize what this means?"

"….It… means I've got great hearing?" shrugged Sonic.

"No, my friend! It means that there's something truly special about you. I always knew you were unique, but now…" Blaze then addressed the whole party: "Everyone, meet me back in the Crystal Caves. There's something I need to show you."

…

**Canus Kingdom- Frozen Peak Zone.**

At the foot of an icy mountain, a team of chained wolves were slowly and painfully pushing the gears of a large mechanical lever, in an attempt to pry open a secret passageway in the mountain's very wall. To add injury to insult, they were observed and whipped mercilessly by Lien-Da, Mistress of the Dark Legion.

"Faster! …FASTER, you dogs!" you screamed as she lashed her whip at them. "Do you want to be Roboticized? You _do_, don't you! _Move_ it, mongrels!"

Her cruelty was only stopped by a tug of her leather jacket, followed by a soft innocent voice: "Mommy?"

The she-echidna looked down and saw that her young son, Rutan, was the one tugging at her jacket. In the most gentile voice she could possibly muster, she cooed, "Sweetie, Mommy's busy whipping her slaves."

The toddler smiled up at her while holding up an icicle-crested necklace. "I made this fer you."

"You did? Aw, sweetie, that's so thoughtful of you."

"I made it using this," said Rutan, as he summoned up the white Sol Emerald from his chest.

Immediately, Lien-Da gasped and blocked her son's view from the chained wolves. Then she whispered to him, "Rutan, precious, you're not supposed to show that emerald in public. It's our little secret, remember?"

"Oh! I'm sorry."

"It's okay, just keep it hidden for now." She helped him push it back into his chest before giving him an Eskimo kiss. "Mommy loves you."

Her hand maiden, Gae-Na, stood nearby; she wore an elegant midnight blue dress with most of her red quill-locks pulled back in a ponytail. Her right eye was green, while her left sported a cyber-link target iris. "Mistress," she softly asked, "do you think it's wise to have him here in such a harsh environment?"

"Only for now," nodded Lien-Da as she cradled her son. "We need his attribute to awaken the creature hidden somewhere in that mountain cave."

"About that, Mistress… If I may say so, I'm not sure if we can trust that creature."

"We've already lost two kingdoms in less than a week. And I just know that this one will be hit next… I'm not taking any chances; we must pull out_ all_ of the stops."

"Mistress! The cave is open," called out a nearby Legionnaire.

"Finally," sighed Lien-Da. "Come, Gae-Na! You'll want to see this…"

…

Within the frigid mountain cave, Lien-Da (cradling Rutan still) walked down a floor of ice, escorted by two robed Legionnaires with torch lights and Gae-Na following behind. They observed the crystal-blue walls, which seemed to be hiding the remains of ancient creatures within them. At least, judging by the shadows, that's what they appeared to be doing.

"What is this place, Mommy?" asked a chilly Rutan.

Lien-Da replied with, "Have I ever told you the story about the Days of Fury, Rutan?"

"I… don't remember."

"Well, in ancient times, there were many mystical gems that were sought out by Mobians. Many of their species have long been extinct, except for one. He had grown so powerful though, that his enemies captured and imprisoned him in a secret mountain lair. And if my scholars are correct, this is just the place."

After nearly an hour of searching, the group came to a stop by a giant sheet of ice that seemed to be blocking a tunnel. While placing her steely right hand on it, she could tell it was rather soft; clearly not rock at all. "This must be it," grinned Lien-Da slyly.

She then put down Rutan, knelt before him and said, "Alright, Rutan my love, now comes your part. I need you to hold out your emerald and repeat after me."

"Okay," nodded Rutan. He clutched onto his chest to pull out the emerald, which seemed like a chore but really wasn't- he was only a toddler, after all. He then held it out, facing the ice sheet, and echoed his mother:

"By the powers of Chaos and Balance…"

"By the powers of Chaos and Balance…?"

"You are hereby Released."

"You are hear-by **Released**!"

The crystal unleashed a white-hot light in the room, causing all of the echidnas to shield their eyes. Lien-Da wrapped her arms around Rutan defensively, expecting the ice wall to come crashing down on them. But it didn't; instead it simply disappeared into thin air.

When the light faded, Lien-Da looked upward at the frozen-stiff giant that stood where the ice block once was. "…I knew it. They _did_ banish him here!"

Rutan looked up at the stilled creature and shivered. "Mommy…? I'm scared."

"Don't worry, sweetie, everything's going to be just fine. As soon as we've fully revived him, our enemies will face the wrath of… **Ixis Mammoth**!"

…

**Felidae Kingdom- Crystal Caves Zone.**

Blaze led her fellow heroes into the cavern in which they had freed her from her robotic state. But now, she placed her paw on a secret slab that opened up a wall. As it slid open, the team gasped in awe at the colorful hideaway. There were silk curtains dangling from the ceiling, as well as paintings of ancient warriors decorated in gold and crystal. Also, they spotted a pillar on which the golden Sol Emerald hovered peacefully.

"The Sol Emerald! It was here all along," beamed Sally in delight.

"Yes," Blaze smiled back. "I've hidden it here before Robotnik captured us; it was the only place he couldn't get to without my signature paw print." She scooped up the emerald and handed it out to Sonic. "Here, Sonic, take it. You'll need it to fulfill your destiny."

"But it's yours, Blaze."

"Maybe in other situations, it is. But for now, you are the chosen one."

"…Me?" Sonic blinked.

Blaze the Cat then paused to glance at the paintings of warriors that covered her secret room. "My culture believes in the idea of heavenly bodies, which we call Devas, that walk the earth when they are most needed. These beings only come once every one-hundred or a thousand years. Although it's considered a myth and nothing more, I have reason to believe that you, Sonic, are a Deva."

The hero was absolutely stunned. "Me? Sonic the Deva? …Nah! I'm just a regular blue hedgehog, Blaze."

"One that goes super-fast," added Tails.

"And can go Super with the Chaos Emeralds," chimed in Knuckles.

"And whose beaten Eggman, like, billions of times," chimed in Amy.

"And whose become a major pain in my ass," muttered Shadow nearby.

Sonic shot him a look. "….Okay, so I'm a very special blue hedgehog. But a Deva? Seriously!"

"Do you believe in Dharma, Sonic?" asked Blaze.

"Dharma? What's that?"

"It's what my people call a special purpose- a duty that goes beyond the norm, and one that can only be accomplished by a chosen person."

Feeling a bit dizzy and overwhelmed, Sonic took a few steps back while scratching his chin in deep thought. "I… I never considered myself to be that important. I just wanna make things better for everybody. And when I kick butt, I make sure I have fun doing it."

"Well, perhaps in your world, Eggman represents the ultimate embodiment of Evil, while you represent ultimate Good. That is also a page right out of my culture's handbook; we believe that Good and Evil are in a never-ending contest with each other, and yet it's that contest that keeps the balance of nature from falling apart."

"Okay," sighed Amy, "so let me get this straight. Good and Evil are like Night and Day, and one without the other causes disaster. Am I right so far?"

"Correct," nodded Blaze.

"So, Sonic is Light and Eggman is Darkness?"

"You could say that."

"So," questioned Tails, "if Sonic is here, then does that spell danger for our world?"

Blaze patiently explained, "From what I've learned in past adventures, our worlds are connected, and so what happens in one automatically affects the other. However, as long as Sonic and Eggman exist, there's no immediate threat of obliteration… Not unless one of them tips the scales of balance."

"And that's just what Eggman and Nega tried to do last time," recalled Sonic. "They were both after the Chaos and Sol Emeralds, and worked together to get them."

"Indeed," nodded Blaze, "and by you and I teaming up to stop them, we inadvertently put balance back to the universe. So you see, Sonic, we all have a very important purpose in these worlds."

"Oo, oo! I have a question!" Amy raised her hand as though she was in a classroom.

"Yes?" purred Blaze.

"If Sonic is some kind of heavenly being, then does that make him immortal?"

"I have a better question," smirked Shadow: "If Sonic is so heavenly, then why is it that he can't swim?

"SHUDDUP, Shadow!" barked the blue hedgehog.

Blaze giggled before replying, "Well, to call Sonic divine is not exactly accurate. However, he may be chosen by a Greater Power- a sort of instrument for the ultimate Good, if you will."

"Oh," smiled Amy, "that makes sense. I always knew he was perfect."

"Amy," cringed a humbled Sonic.

Blaze noticed that he was looking quite uncomfortable. "There's no shame in being chosen by the gods, Sonic."

He turned away in a huff. "I'm not ashamed; I just don't buy into this holy stuff… I'm a hedgehog, that's all there is to it."

"Hmm… Alright, I won't push this on you any longer, my friend. I just thought it might enlighten things." Then the Persian princess handed her golden emerald over to Sally. "Here, please take it. I trust you with it."

"Thank you Blaze, but… what about you?" asked the she-squirrel.

"I need to go on my own little adventure: to find my mother, Queen Hathor. She's been missing ever since Robotnik took over Mobitropolis."

Monkey Khan genuflected before her; "Allow me to assist you, princess. I can help locate the queen with my cloud control."

Blaze nodded to him; "I appreciate that, Ken." She then turned back to her allies. "This is goodbye for now, friends, but know that if you ever need m help, I won't be too far."

"Thank you again, princess," bowed Sally.

"No, thank _you_."

…

By sundown, the airship stolen by the Freedom fighters had taken off in flight. All were present and accounted for, including the reluctant Shadow who stayed by the ship's stern. No one seemed to bother him, but there was one other party member that needed attention.

Julie-Su walked up to Knuckles as he stared blankly at the sky while sitting by the ledge of the ship's dock. "…Knuckles? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"I was just wondering, because…"

"Because I'm a traitor to my race?"

She shook her head. "You're not a traitor; Lien-Da and the others are the traitors."

"Well," grumbled Knuckles as he crossed his arms, "I wish someone would tell that to the cat-folks… You realize we're going to run into this dilemma all over the world, right?"

"Yes, but I'm prepared for it. I just hope you are."

The red male gave out a deep sigh and pinched his eyes shut. "…for as long as I could remember, I was the only echidna alive in my world. My whole family, my whole clan, died out on our floating island. But after years of solitude, I came to accept my place and the fact that I was the last of m kind… And now here I am, in a whole new world, where echidnas not only exist but are on the wrong side. …This is going to take some major adjusting, Julie."

"I know…" She looked away to avoid eye contact. "If it makes you feel any better, I sympathize."

"Thanks, but I'll be okay. I just need to let it all sink in for a little while longer."

"I understand." Julie-Su then started to creep away, feeling as though she had outlived her stay.

"Thanks Julie," she heard, causing her to smile. "You're welcome."

Meanwhile, a very enthusiastic Sonic leaned forward on the edge of the ship's bow. "How much longer 'till we get there?"

Rotor the pilot replied, "We'll get there when we get there. Don't make me turn this ship around!"

"I can't help it. I always get excited before another challenge."

Sally then walked up to him for the first time since their meeting with Blaze. "…Sonic? You're not upset about what Blaze told you earlier, are you?"

"What, about me being holy? Nah… She's got her thing and I got mine."

"Those weren't her words exactly."

"Well, whatever she said it flew right past me."

"I've been thinking about what she said… and to tell you the truth, some of it makes sense. I believe in a balance of light and darkness, too."

He looked to her with a confident smile. "That's fine, Sal. You believe what you want; I'll just keep being faster-than-lightning me."

She nodded with a certain smile of admiration, "Okay…"

Sonic was hopelessly staring down a wall of clouds. "…Come on, Rotor, pick up the pace of this thing!"

"I told you before, Sonic, don't rush me!"

"Lookout, Canus Kingdom. Here we come!"

…

**To Be Continued…**


	18. Double Trouble

"_There is no immediate threat of worldly obliteration, so long as no one tips the scales of balance between light and darkness…"_

-Blaze the Cat

**18. "Double Trouble"**

…

**Acorn Palace Zone.**

It was early in the morning, and Nicole was curled up in a small bed in her cellar room, when her All-Seeing Eye started to flicker in a warm green hue. This made the she-lynx pull her eyes open weakly; something was wrong.

"…_Guardian… Guardian Knuckles?"_ chirped a small, ghostly female voice coming from the green orb.

Nicole yawned and stretched before getting out of bed. As she crept up to her crystal ball, she heard the small voice grow slightly stronger.

"_Guardian? Are you there?"_

"Hello?" peeped Nicole, raising her black paw over the Eye. "What is your name, stranger?"

"_I am Tikal, spirit of the Master Eemrald."_

"And I am Nicole, keeper of the All-Seeing Eye..." she was confused, yet intrigued at the same time.

"_I've been trying to get in touch with my Guardian, Knuckles the Echidna. But our bond has been cut off somehow."_

"Oh… I think I understand now; you're calling from his world. He's in mine- Mobius we call it."

"_I see…"_

"Is there anything wrong, Tikal? I can contact him for you."

"_Would you? That would be so kind of you, Nicole."_

"Hold on, one second." Nicole pulled out her cell phone and dialed for Sally. "…Sally, is Knuckles there? I need to speak with him… Hello, Knuckles. I've just made contact with your spirit guide, Tikal, through my All-Seeing Eye… I know, it's very intriguing! …I'll send a Warp Ring your way, once I pinpoint your location on my map."

A few minutes and one Wrap Ring later, Knuckles himself landed softly on the ground of Nicole's chamber.

"_Guardian!"_ smiled Tikal, as her spirit materialized over the All-Seeing Eye.

"Tikal?" gasped a surprised Knuckles, approaching her. "…How is this possible?"

Nicole smiled in reply, "There's only one explanation: The Master emerald and the All-Seeing Eye must be made of the same cosmic material."

"You mean the All-Seeing Eye is… a Master Sol Emerald?"

"_It would appear so,"_ nodded Tikal. _"But I'm glad of it, because I've been trying to contact you, Guardian. I've been sensing dark forces around Angel Island."_

"Dark forces," echoed Knuckles in deep worry. "…Nicole, could you use a Warp Ring to send me back to my island?"

"With pleasure," replied the mystic lynx, as she revved up her core energy…

…

**Angel Island- Hidden Palace Zone.**

Although Knuckles' birthday had officially passed, more visitors to the island were gathered in his honor. They included the Rabbit family, Vanilla and Cream (with Cheese the Chao); Big the Cat; and the Wisps who were recently liberated by Sonic and Tails. And of course there were Team Chaotix (minus mighty Armadillo) who had been keeping the place in Knuckles' absence. The Rabbits and Wisps came with decorations to spruce up the cavern, while the rest of the party piled the wrapped presents in a corner near the pillars of the emeralds.

As the group settled, they began the debate of what to do while waiting for the echidna of the hour…

"We could play Hide and Seek," suggested young Cream.

"Oh, dat's Froggy's favorite game!" smiled Big the Cat. "In fact, I think he's playing it right now."

"I've made a cake for Knuckles," frowned Vanilla, "but it might get stale before he gets back from wherever he went off to."

"Don't worry, we can finish it before he gets here!" said Charmy Bee slyly.

"That is, right before we buy another one," added Vector Crocodile.

Then Vanilla asked Espio, "Did Knuckles and the others say when they'd be coming back?"

The purple chameleon shook his head, "For all we know, it could take a few more days. Who knows just how time passes between our world and that other one?"

Little did the partygoers know that they were being spied upon by two deviously hidden bandits: Rouge the Bat and Fang the Sniper- now known as Team Gold-Diggers.

Rouge took to her natural ability to hang upside down from the ceiling, while Fang dangled by a stalactite. "Hmm," purred the she-bat. "No Knuckles, eh?"

"When the 'kidna's away, the weasel will play," grinned Fang.

"Hey," whispered Rouge, "we're in this fifty-fifty, remember? You can take sis Chaos Emeralds, I'll take six, then we split the last two gems."

"Sure, partner, whatever you say."

The weasel-wolf hybrid leered away; he was too slick for this bat. He could easily steal her half of the prize later.

Rouge turned away; she was too clever for this fool of a weasel. She could easily steal his half of the prize later.

But for now, it was time to move. "NOW!" they shouted.

The partygoers looked up, and gasped in surprise as the two thieves came falling down on them from above. Vanilla grabbed Cream and ran to safety, while Team Chaotix and the Wisps scattered as well. Big just stood there, clueless.

"Ha!" huffed Rouge upon landing. "Sorry kiddies, but this party's just getting started!"

Fang then pulled out his gins at Vector and Espio. "We'll be takin' those emeralds now, unless ya wanna tango!"

"If it's a dance you want," challenged Espio, before fading into the background with his Stealth attribute.

"Hmm?" blinked a confused Fang. Espio reappeared behind him and karate-chopped him in the back of the head. "Gah!"

"Stupid weasel," growled Rouge before she took to the air. Charmy took after here, but he was no match for her Screw Kick attack; he went flying into a stalagmite, which knocked him out cold.

"Lemmie at 'em, Momma. I can fight!" dared Cream, but her mother kept holding her back. "Not in this lifetime dear," warned her overprotective mother.

"It's Two against One," said Vector to Rouge, counting himself and Espio. "Give it up, bat-girl."

**BANG!** went off a pistol, just under Vector's feet and causing him to jump up in alarm.

"Two-on-two, Lizard Boy," growled Fang as he quickly recovered from Espio's attack.

He chased the hapless reptile around with his guns blazing, until he ran straight into a mass of blue. "What the?" gasped the weasel-wolf hybrid, and looked up to see that it was Big he ran into. Fang tried to shoot him with his gins, but for some reason the stun pellets just bounced off the cat as though they were rubber hitting concrete. Big just stood there, clueless as usual, until at last he swatted the weasel away with one swoop of his bloated arm.

Espio jumped from ledge to ledge in pursuit of Rouge. But Rouge was fast on her wings, and once her legs met with his, she had a certain advantage. She grabbed him by the tail and twirled him, making him fall into Vector.

"Finally," sighed Rouge as she fluttered over to the Master Emerald. "Come to Mama- Oof!" she was suddenly sideswiped by a bolt of yellow fur.

"Rouge! What the-GAH!" went Fang, as he too was sideswiped by a flash of red.

The two thieves fell to the ground, stunned, while the witnesses looked upward. To their amazement, the flashes of red and yellow belonged to two new party crashers: Mighty Armadillo, and a small yellow flying squirrel!

"Hey guys," smiled Mighty. "Sorry I'm late, but I didn't wanna miss the party."

"Mighty!" cheered an otherwise winded crocodile. "Your timing couldn't be better, dude."

"…Who's that?" muttered a weak Espio at the young squirrel character.

"This is my new buddy Ray, the Flying Squirrel," Mighty introduced.

"H-hello," waved the shy, stuttering squirrel.

"Goodbye!" replied Rouge, as she jumped up and twirled her body into a small tornado, headed straight for Ray.

Mighty jumped up to block her, when Fang fired a laser blast at him that knocked him off balance. Ray was hit, but was then caught by Yacker the Wisp. Yacker then tossed him over to his Cyan brother, who entered Ray's body.

"LASER!"

Empowered, Ray zig-zagged through the room in a flash of cyan light, but his aim was so powerful that he not only ricocheted off of his enemies, but also the walls, his friends, and the Chaos Emeralds. Afterwards, he fell into a deep dizzy spell.

"Hmm!" grinned Fang as he was now enlightened. He then grabbed the yellow Wisp and forced it into his own body. "DRILL!" He plowed into the ground and came back up under Vector's feet, sending him straight up into the ceiling and back down again in a large "Thump!"

Fang and the yellow Wisp separated, both dazed but otherwise fine. Then he giggled, sensing that victory was drawing near. And with three Chaotic team members out of commission, he wasn't exactly wrong.

Espio and Mighty balled their fists, ready to rumble with the opposition, when…

_**SHING!**_

In a bright flash of light, Knuckles the Echidna came flying out of an instant Warp Ring, landing on top of the Master Emerald. Everyone stopped what they were doing, eve those in mid-battle, to look upon him in awe.

The Guardian crossed his arms. "Rouge. Fang. I should have known…"

"Knux, honey, I can explain!" lied the charming she-bat.

"Save it," Knuckles replied, his eyes narrowed at her. "I really don't have time for you two, but the least I can do is stop you from stealing m emeralds." He then raised his arms in the air, and began to chant:

"_The servers are the Seven Chaos._

_Chaos is power enriched by the heart._

_The Controller exists to unify the Chaos!"_

A great circle of void opened up, indicating a rift in the atmosphere, which was brought on by the shining power of the Chaos Emeralds. One by one, they were launched into the void as though by gravity.

Watching in horror, Fang shouted, "No! Those're MAH emeralds!" He took a flying leap.

"YOUR Emeralds!" replied an angered Rouge, and took off after him.

When the void closed, all seven Chaos Emeralds were gone out of sight, as were Team Gold-Diggers. Knuckles doubled over in tiredness, having used up a lot of his energy, while the partygoers looked on.

"…Mister Knuckles! Are you alright?"

"I'm okay, Cream. I…" That's when he realized who was there. "Cream! Cheese! Big! …Mighty!"

"And Ray," smiled the new youngster.

"We missed you pal," smiled the armadillo at Knuckles.

"I've missed you guys too…" But then the echidna's smile dropped to a frown, realizing his work had only just begun. "…Sorry everyone, but I can't stay for the party. There's something I've gotta finish first, but I will return once it's done. I promise."

Knuckles then waved his goodbyes and jumped into a green light glowing from the Master Emerald, indicating a Warp back to the other world.

…

**Acorn Palace Zone.**

With a _"Shing!"_ and a flash of light, Knuckles was back in the alternate world and within Nicole's secret chamber. Ready to welcome him were Nicole herself, and Tikal.

"What happened back there, Knuckles?" inquired the lynx.

"I've sent the Chaos Emeralds to the Special Stages. There, I can retrieve them before Rouge and Fang get the chance."

"_You've done a wise thing Guardian,"_ nodded Tikal's spirit, _"but you know you can only keep them away for so long."_

"I'll just have to search for more Warp Rings while Sonic and the others deal with Robotnik."

"That's quite a task for one echidna," frowned a concerned Nicole. "Are you sure you can do it?"

He smiled almost smugly at her. "I've had tougher quests… Besides, I won't be alone this time. I've got friends to back me up."

Nicole smiled with a nod. "…Speaking of whom, I should take you back to the airship before it lands in Canus Kingdom."

Within a few seconds, Nicole made the necessary Warp Ring to send Knuckles back to his mission at hand.

Once he was gone, Tikal's spirit began to fade away, leaving only her whisper. _"Nicole… I'm very glad to have met you. Perhaps we can work together from hereon in."_

The mystic lynx stared at her All-Seeing Eye, growing a bit wiser of its mysterious origins. "I would like that very much, Tikal… At the very least, I can have some company around here for a change."

…

**To Be Continued…**


	19. The Cowardly Coyote

**19. "The Cowardly Coyote"**

…

"_Alez!"_

_Sixteen-year-old Antoine clashed swords with his father, Armand, in the garden of the royal Acorn Palace. Although they had been through this a dozen times, the young Antoine was still slow and unbalanced._

"_Focus, Antoine!" coached his father, who was almost his spitting image if not for his blonde mustache. "You must focus, or else your enemy will have ze advantage."_

"_I know, Father, I'm trying- Gah!" gasped Antoine, as he fell on his back in defeat._

_Armand's sword nearly scraped his face, had he not been quick enough to stop it. "You're not trying hard enough," sighed the high general._

_At the time, Antoine was wearing the royal court's deep blue uniform with red trimmings and golden shoulder pads. He himself almost looked like royalty, but had yet to earn any medals of valor. And at his age, it was about time to make up for that. However, something was lacking in Antoine, more so than his balance and skill…_

"_Son," purred Armand as he helped Antoine to his feet, "I'm beginning to think you're not ready for zis job."_

"_But I am ready, Father! I promise I will train harder!"_

"_But you're nearly old enough to be ze princess' bodyguard. It will be up to you to protect her from all danger."_

"_Oui, Father…" There was a blatant glare of uncertainty in his blue eyes._

_The high general caught those eyes and sheathed his sword. "Zat's enough training for one day."_

_As the proud general led his son back inside the palace, Antoine was beginning to think that he had let his father down… in more ways than one._

…

"Ant? …Antoine? Wake up, sugah."

Bunnie could tell that her boyfriend was lost in thought; he was lying on his back on the ship's main deck, yet he wasn't quite sleeping. To snap him out of his trance, she poked his nose with her steel index finger.

"Hmm?" he finally perked up. "Oh! Bonjour, Cherie. Are we zere yet?"

"Not yet," Bunnie shook her head. "You looked depressed just now, are y'alright?"

"I'm fine… I was jest thinking back… It's nothing, Bunnie."

"Okay, I was just checking." Bunnie left him to recollect his thoughts; though those years of training were way behind him, Antoine sighed as they were now coming back to haunt him.

Within the hour, the clouds surrounding the airship were beginning to rock the boat with turbulence. Rotor did his best in steering the ship as it battled with the winds, but eventually the crew was in for a bumpy ride.

"Hang onto something guys!" cried out the walrus as he gripped onto the steering wheel with all his might.

The team would have been much safer within the ship's interior, but for some reason they all clung onto the ship's deck, tossing and turning with the waves of wind.

"Woah…! Wooooah!" they all howled as each one started to lose their grip and piled onto each other.

"Stop rocking the boat!" pleaded Julie-Su as she fell onto a dog pile of Freedom Fighters.

"I'm trying not to," cringed Rotor, hearing her cry.

_Ring! Ring! Ring!_ went Sally's cell phone.

As she struggled to climb out of the dog pile, Sally pulled out her phone. "Ugh… Nyah! …N-Nicole? Ow!" She had to push Tail's foot out of her face. "Come in, Nicole!"

"_Sally!"_ alerted Nicole's voice. _"I've detected Sir Geoffrey's plane. He's headed your way, and fast!"_

"Oh great," sighed the she-squirrel. She knew that if Geoffrey had caught up with her, he would use everything he had to get her back to the Acorn Kingdom. Quickly, she scrambled onto her feet and headed for Rotor's steering wheel.

Rotor was taken by surprise as the former princess pushed him out of the way; "'Scuse me Rotor," she gasped. "Sally? W-what're you doing!"

She gave the wheel a violent turn to the left.

"Sally, NO!"

"WAAAH!" screamed the crew, as the airship veered left with the raging wind current. Once again they flew across the deck to reform their pile on the other side.

Shadow came very close to dodging them, giggling at everyone's folly, until he himself collided with Bunnie. "Hahahaha-OOF!"

Bunnie sat up, rubbing her head. "…Oh my! That was a softer landin' than I expected."

"GIT. OFF. ME." Roared her black and red cushion.

Then the former princess pulled the steering wheel back, making the ship shoot straight up into the air. "Sally? Are you trying to kill us!" screamed Rotor.

"Sorry guys, I never did pass my driver's test," confessed Sally. But her direction this time was perfect, as the ship traveled deeper and deeper into a forest of grey clouds.

…

"That's strange," murmured Hershey the Cat, as she sat in the passenger's seat of Geoffrey St. John's small plane. She was watching the radar signal of the princess' airship, noticing that the blinking dot was zipping in all directions.

"Something wrong, love?" asked Geoffrey the pilot.

"I'm trying to pinpoint the ship, but the signal's going crazy… Uh-oh. It's gone now!"

"Gone?"

"It disappeared, Geoff… We lost her."

Geoffrey sighed, "That Sally is a clever one, I'll give 'er that. No worries, we already know she's 'eaded fer Canus Kingdom. We'll land there, and rethink our strategy."

…

"Uh-oh… Chili dogs… They're comin; up." Sonic was feeling nauseas while the airship was slowly gaining control over the wind; thankfully the feeling soon left him.

"Whew," sighed Knuckles nearby, clambering to his feet as the wind died down. "…Is everyone still here?"

All ten hands were raised, Antoine's being the last as he was the unfortunate one on the bottom of the dog pile.

Sally gave Rotor the wheel back before rejoining the group on deck, her head bowed humbly. "I'm really sorry, but I couldn't let Geoffrey catch us. We're just too close to getting that third Sol Emerald."

"Forgiven and forgotten," replied Sonic. "Just warn us next time you decide to flip us over like that."

Sally smiled, blushing.

"Guys," pointed out young Tails. "I see a mountaintop ahead! I think we made it!"

Rotor pulled out a telescope and looked onward. He could see two snow-covered peaks, each a part of one giant mountain whose top was shaped like a howling wolf's head. "…Yep, that's Howling Mountain alright. We could probably jump right out of the ship from there and ski on down to Frozen Peak Zone."

"Sweet!" jumped Sonic. "I love skiing! Got any snowboards, Rotor?"

"I can make some," nodded the walrus. "I can also make ski boats for me and Tails."

"I'll help you with that," Tails chimed in with a confident smile.

"…Ski? …From a mountain?" muttered the nervous Antoine. "…Mon Dior… Heights."

"What was that, sugah?" purred Bunnie nearby in concern.

"Nothing, nothing!" assured her boyfriend.

"I'll put the airship on neutral to work on the machines… Sally, touch that wheel and die!" With that, Rotor led Tails down to the ship's interior to work quickly on their new projects.

Twenty minutes later, they were ready to go…

…

Once the airship was close enough to touch the mountain's top, eight members of the team (minus Tails and Rotor) jumped off of the ledge and shot straight down to the slope below. Each warrior had a snowboard made of reforged Badnik parts and colored according to each warrior's signature color; Sonic's, for example, was dark blue.

"Wah-hoo!" cheered the blue hedgehog as he flew down the slope, tailed by Knuckles and Shadow almost immediately. He veered back and forth to challenge them to a race, and the echidna and black hedgehog were happy to accept.

"Can't out-ski me, Faker!"

"The two of you are amateurs!"

To their surprise, Tails went zooming past all three of them thanks to his propelling two tails. "See you guys at the bottom!"

"Hey, that's cheating!" replied Sonic jealously.

The only warrior who wasn't enjoying himself was Antoine, as he allowed the others to fly ahead while he kept a steady pace on his yellow board. "Woah… Uhh… Sacre bleu cheese!" he would cry out in panic, as he veered far left and far right to avoid oncoming pine trees.

All the while, he could hear his father's stern voice repeat in his head:_ "Focus, Antoine! Focus!"_

"I'm trying… I'm trying!" he suddenly called out.

Bunnie's ears picked up the whimpers from the far back, and tilted her head to catch sight of him. "Antoine?"

"Lift up ahead!" warned Julie-Su nearby.

One by one the team slid off the small lift of the cliff that acted like a ramp for them. Most of them performed mid-air stunts to show off their skills, while the rest braced themselves for the landing to come.

But when it came time for Antoine to make the lift, he howled in fear. And that didn't really seem to help matters, because once airborne, his eyes dilated in reaction to the great height he had reached. "YaaaaaAAAAAHH!"

Desperately he flapped his arms in hopes to fly, but instead he plummeted like a rock toward the snowy ground. "HE-E-E-ELP!" Upon impact, everything went dark.

Hearing his screams, Bunnie skidded to a halt. "Guys! Did y'all hear that! It's Antoine!" She was the first to run back up the hill to where he had landed, followed by Sally, Julie and Rotor.

…

_At eighteen years old, Antoine was finally ready to join the ranks of knighthood in the royal court. The evening was shaping up to be a good one, full of festivities and mingling with the royal family. Most importantly, it was his chance to impress the young Princess Sally, whom he had a crush on for some time now._

_Sally, who at the time had long red hair and a very long squirrely tail, was dressed in her best golden gown for the evening's dinner party. And though she was only a few years younger than he, Antoine couldn't help but blush in her presence._

_They sat side by side at the table, which seated up to twenty people- the king and queen in the center. The dashing young coyote offered to cut up the princess' meal for her, and she giggled as he struggled to cut through the tough meat._

"_Here, let me, Antoine." She graciously took up her cutting knife and drilled through the chicken in double the time he was cutting through it. He smiled sheepishly; "Eh-heh, well done Princess. You're what zey call a naturale, yes?"_

"_You mean natural."_

"_Oui, oui! Zat's what I said."_

"_Heh… You're silly. But cute."_

_Feeling his heart skip a beat, Antoine nearly melted in his chair._

_But soon afterwards, an alarm rang out from a palace guard. "Vandals! Vandals are escaping!"_

_Sir Armand jumped to his feet. "Come, Antoine! We'll handle this."_

_Finally, a chance to prove himself to the princess; Antoine lifted himself from his chair almost as quickly as his father. He then clasped Sally's gloved hand and said, "Don't worry, Princess, I'll get zose bandits fer you." He then raced off after his father while reaching for his sword, leaving a concerned Sally behind._

_The bandits, two stoats in dark robes, had made off with some fine golden coins and jewelry they snatched after breaking into one of the royal family's bedrooms. They soon found that escaping from the castle would be a bit tougher than breaking into it. But they were fast and clever creatures, and Stealth-types on top of that; paying up a few Rings, they managed to zip past guards down the hallways toward the front door._

_The stoats managed to break down the door and take off into the knight, while Sir Armand and Antoine followed close behind along with a few palace guards. The younger coyote was starting to slow down, especially once they had reached the forest that painted the valley surrounding the castle._

"…_Father? …Guards?" he started to call out, as his vision in the dark started to fail him. "Ugh, I cannot see! It's too dark! …'Ello? Father! …Oof!"_

_He tripped on a tree's root, and he fell flat on his face. He could then hear the taunting laughs of the getaway stoats; they were hiding in the trees and had excellent night vision._

"_Cowards! Come back here!" Antoine struggled to his feet and pulled out his cutlass, but he had no hope in pinpointing his enemy's location in the pitch dark. "Where are you, you miserable vermin!"_

_He bumped right into a tree, then tripped over a rock, then he nearly twisted his ankle as he slipped down a pit in the ground._

"_Oy!" called out a stoat in the dark, "you need a light, sonny-boy? Hahahahaha!"_

"'_E looks like 'e needs glasses, mate," replied the fellow bandit._

"_I'll show you!" called out Antoine. "Hiyah!" He chopped down a tree limb._

"_Whoops! Wrong way," taunted the first stoat._

"_Over 'ere, doggie-boy!" called out the second, making Antoine swing his sword at a boulder._

_Their laughing and taunting was finally getting to him, as Antoine's eyes watered in frustration. "You miserable little weasels… I'll… I'll get you ye-AAAHHH!"_

_He tumbled down a slope in a hill, falling rather hard on his side and feeling quite disoriented. There he rolled into a ball, defeated and spiritually broken. "…F-… father… help…"_

_His father did find him eventually, but when he did he found a shivering shadow of his son's former self. This broke Armand's heart; perhaps Antoine just wasn't cut out for knighthood after all. He of course would never say that to Antoine's face, but from that night on their demeanor towards each other would never be the same._

…

"Antoine! Ant, buddy, are you okay?"

Hearing Sonic's voice, the tan coyote awoke from his sleep. He was soon met with a major migraine; "Le ow…"

"Whew," huffed a relieved Sonic, as he and the others gathered around Antoine. "I thought we'd lost you there, buddy. Are you okay?"

Antoine slowly sat up, held by Bunnie's metallic arm in support. "Ugh… Mon head, she hurts, but I think I will be okay."

"Thank the stars for that," sighed Bunnie.

The coyote then hung his head in shame. "I am so sorry I scared everyone… I've lost my focus back zere."

"It's okay Antoine," assured Sally, "it could've happened to any one of us."

"No… Not anyone. Only moi." Antoine then rose to his feet, his leather boots quivering with uncertainty. "I suppose I never really gotten over my old fears- of heights, of ze dark… of failure."

"What're you talking about, Ant?" asked the curious blue hedgehog.

Antoine turned his head away from the crowd. "I've always been a little scared of things, but my father tried his best to cure all of zat. But jest now, as I was falling down zat mountain, it all came back to me… But zis was not ze first time it has happened. I'm starting to think I was never really cut out for zis knight thing."

"Don't say that, sugah." Bunnie scooted over to him so that her green eyes met with his blue. "Remember that day we first met? It was _you_ that pulled me outta that Roboticizer. Now if that ain't courage, I dunno what is."

"I only saved your life, Cherie, but I was too late to save yer legs."

"That's okay, sugah, Ah can live without mah fur. What Ah can't live without are mah friends… or you." As she said this, her perked ear touched his left one, making him giggle softly. "Ah know this hero thang is tough, Antoine, but you've got all of us backing you up. We'd never leave you behind."

"Merci, Bunnie… But…"

"No buts. Just hugs." The group cooed slightly as they watched the two of them embrace.

"…Okay, mushy moment is over," said Sonic as he turned his direction Southward. "We've gotta regroup with Tails and Rotor." He took off in a mad dash before anyone else could follow.

…

At the foot of the mountain, Tails and Rotor were polishing up their new vehicles. In truth, they were the old Scratch and Grounder, but modified for snow travel with sled skis, six-wheel drive and boat motors. In fact, their overall shape was now boat-like, or rather let-ski-like. One was painted grey with red and purple trimmings, the other was almost completely orange with yellow and forest green trimmings. To top off their new looks, they both came equipped with lupine "faces" on their fronts.

Soon they were joined by Sonic and the others. Upon seeing the new vehicles, Sonic made a face. "Ick… You guys have the strangest taste in color schemes."

"Hey, these guys have feelings too you know," remarked Rotor.

"What'ya call these new ones?" asked Sonic curiously.

Tails pointed them out: "This one's the Sleet, and that one's the Dingo. I'll be riding Sleet 'cause it's faster."

"Nice," smiled his big brother. "…I see you also got the cannons on the roofs. Who's gonna be riding them?"

"I will!" volunteered Amy, who had been following close behind Sonic. "I'll go in Tails' thingie."

"Sleet," corrected the little fox.

"Sure. Whatever."

Julie-Su raised her hand; "I'll go with Amy on this one."

"Great! We'll be called Team Pink Power!"

Julie paused before replying, "We'll work on the name later."

Knuckles then said, "I'd come with you guys, but I've gotta start looking around for Warp Rings. I've got to get to the Special Stages and get my emeralds before Rouge and Fang do… Shadow, you coming with?"

"Heh, you wish." With that, Shadow disappeared.

"…Well, see you guys." Knuckles waved them off before high-tailing it.

"Well," shrugged Sally, "I'll try out Rotor's cannon. Antoine? Bunnie?"

"I'll do it! It'll be fun," smiled the rabbit.

"Great," smiled Sally, happy to have her best friend along for the ride.

"…That leaves you n' me, Antoine," said Sonic to the coyote.

"Wah? You- you want to run with me?" gulped Antoine. "But I didn't think you were a team player, 'edgehog."

"Nah, it'll be fine. Just try to keep up with me. Kay?"

"Hmm…" Antoine wasn't exactly thrilled to be with Sonic- or anyone- as a Tag Partner at the time being. In his mind, it felt like he was saddled with a babysitter. But still, he complied, "Alright, just zis once."

"Okay you guys, saddle up! We leave for Frozen Peak in five," announced Tails.

Sleet and Dingo's engines revved up, raring to go…

…

**- NEW TEAM! -**

**SWIFT KNIGHTS**

**Sonic (Speed-Type) and Antoine (Weapons-Type)**

**BONUS!**

**You've just unlocked "Knight of the Wind" by Crush 40!**

**.**

**LOADING ZONE…**


	20. FROZEN PEAK ZONE: Team Swift Knights

**20. "By the Sword"**

…

**- FROZEN PEAK ZONE -**

**.**

**Team Selected: Swift Knights (Sonic and Antoine)**

**.**

**- ACT I -**

**Song: "Knight of the Wind" Rock/Orchestra Mash-Up**

**Artist: Crush 40**

Frozen Peak: a mountainous forest of fir, blanketed in snow and icy roads that would occasionally curl into loop-de-loops. Hiding somewhere in the snow drifts were **Penguinators**, penguin-shaped Badniks who would use their beaks like torpedoes. New to the Zone was a mole-shaped Badnik called **Mole-10**, whose name was a play on the word "molten," for he shot flamethrowers from his arms as he poked in and out of the snow. Also scattered around the place were **Ice Orbinauts**, whose icy spikes would not leave their magnetic orb-head unprotected like previous versions would. Then there were **Ici-kills**, feline Badniks that traveled on skis down the mountainside. Not to mention the **Star Flakes**, whose function was the same as Asterons of old; only difference here is that these were snowflake-shaped time bombs. On top of all that, the heroes would have to put up with spike balls disguised as snowballs, which would hurl at them from atop the cliffs where polar-bear shaped Badniks called **Yeti Bears**.

Fortunately for the heroes, Burning Shield Boxes were also scattered along the slopes, as well as Rings and Ring Boxes. And if they were really lucky, they might have had a chance at a 1-Up Box lying deep within the icy lake at the foot of the Zone. All of this had to be taken into account, as Sonic and Antoine readied themselves for a hellish run through ice and snow.

"Try to keep up," smiled Sonic, as he took the lead after Antoine.

The duo spun into balls and rolled down the first of many hills, while dodging the snow-covered spike balls that were hurled from what seemed to be all directions. In truth, they were coming from a tall cliff less than a mile away; too far for the heroes to go and take on the Yeti Bears that were throwing them. On his way downward, Sonic snagged a line of Rings.

**Ring Count: 5- Crash! -0**

"Gah!" yelped Sonic, as a Penguinator came shooting up from a patch of snow ala Burrobot, right under his feet while he was slowing to a stop. Angered, Sonic Spin-Dashed into the penguin-bot, shattering it to pieces.

He Spin-Dashed again, this time to the next slope in his path, and here the ground shifted from pure snow to a road of ice. It doubled the hedgehog's speed, launching him and his tag partner well over a hill and onto a platform of ice that worked in the same sense as a rail. Sonic and Antoine grinded their way across the icy rail, passing over another snowy slope that would have taken them down a longer path, but were instead taking a shortcut, so to speak. And to their relief, there were Rings hovering along the icy rail as well.

**Ring Count: 20**

"Pardon é moi, mon ami?"

Upon landing back onto the ground, Sonic tagged Antoine to take the lead, just as two Penguinators were waddling, then sliding their way in the snow. The coyote spun around like a ballet dancer with his sword out, slicing into them on impact almost simultaneously.

That's when the first of many Ici-kills came flying at them, on jet-propelled skis. Antoine saw it coming and jump-dashed into it. As it exploded, its skis were left unscathed, and as Antoine walked toward them, they suddenly became attached to his boots!

**Acquired: Rocket Skis**

The coyote smiled, "Zeeze will make snow-traveling easy, no?"

Indeed, these new items were meant to give the team more speed on the snow; Antoine, still in the lead, was now flying down the next slope like a pro, dodging snowballs and snagging Rings along the way.

**Ring Count: 35**

He jumped out of the way of a Penguinator that tried to hit him from below; Sonic got it in mid-jump.

Then Antoine turned into a forest area, where the trees were blocking the way for most of the Badniks. But just as he had hoped, this was the place two find two Ring Boxes.

**Ring Count: 55**

The team then rocketed out of the small patch of forest, toward a giant cliff where Yeti Bears were awaiting them. Antoine was not deterred; he flung his sword at them and they fell before they could land one claw-slash attack upon them. Once they were done for, an icy ramp appeared to take the team to the next location. Antoine and Sonic didn't hesitate, and grinded down another icy rail that curled into a ramp that sent them flying through the air. They landed on a hovering ice block, and jumped toward a lower block before making it to the snowy ground.

"My turn," said Sonic as he was tagged into the lead. While still equipped with the rocket skis, the hedgehog flew across the snow as though he were weightless. But now he had to be careful; Star Flakes were hovering just above him down his winding path toward trees. They had barely made an impact, as he jumped straight into a rock, shattering it. He was rewarded with a hidden spring, and it launched him into a set of Rings high above.

**Ring Count: 62**

When he landed, Sonic sped toward another slope, where Ice Orbinauts were waiting. He didn't see one of them, and ran right into it. Fortunately, it only took away his power items, rather his Rings. But he couldn't disarm it himself, so…

"Allow me!"

Antoine was tagged, and he swung his sword at the Ice Orbinaut. To his dismay, not even its icy spikes were scratched.

"Zey are impenetrable."

Luckily the coyote knew one thing these Badniks couldn't possibly get past: fire. He scrambled left and right, until he and Sonic came to an ice block in their path. Antoine jumped on it, breaking it, and hidden within was the item he was hoping for.

**Acquired: Burning Shield**

Like the regular orb shields, this one surrounded both he and Sonic in a bubble. Only this bubble was made purely of red flame, and once the Ice Orbinaut was close enough to it, its icy shards disappeared. Antoine was quick to slice it to pieces.

"Leave it to me!" said Sonic, as he was tagged back into the lead.

Sonic was able to turn himself into a fireball when he double-jumped across the plain, thus doubling his speed. In his path were more Ice Orbinauts, all of which were now sitting ducks thanks to his fiery shield bubble. They were guarding a Ten-Ring Box, which he double-jumped into.

**Ring Count: 72**

Sonic then spin-dashed down another slope, while getting hit by a spiky snowball. It made him lose his shield, but he was undeterred. What he really needed now was another power item, and so with somewhat of a struggle, he went looking for some Ici-kills.

He found them coming at him from a distant mountainside and Spin-Dashed into one of them. Two others were right behind, so he was forced to hit them all.

**Acquired: Rocket Skis**

Now with extra speed back on his side, the hedgehog took off down the snowy path like a bat out of hell. He dashed past another deadly set of Star Flakes, not giving them a chance to set off, and loop-de-looped around an icy path that sent him and his tag partner down another grinding rail of ice, where there were plenty of Rings to be had.

**Ring Count: 78… 82… 89**

The rail was coming to a second one, and he had to jump to it or else he'd go crashing into a Star Flake. On the second ice rail, he and Antoine were one again airborne, flying over what seemed to be a bottomless pit before landing safely on soft snow.

"Allow me," insisted Antoine, as he took the lead once more. He dashed across the plain with his sword swinging, knocking down the Penguinators that tried to shoot out from the ground. But in the distance, a new foe was ready to attack: a Mole-10, with its flamethrowers clearly visible.

"Zere is no time to lose," panted the coyote, as he started to wander off course once again, looking for another shield box. He then realized that he and Sonic were headed for a lake, which seemed to be covered in ice, but he had a feeling that the ice was thin.

"Let me," said Sonic as he took the lead. Bravely, he revved up his heels and went flying across the lake with little to no care; indeed the ice was breaking beneath his feet, but he would reach the other side before he was in any danger of sinking.

Two wandering Yeti Bears were awaiting them, armed this time with mallets made of ice blocks. Sonic spin-dashed into one, and jump-attacked the other as its mallet came down too late. Behind them was an ice block with an item box trapped inside. As they had hoped, it was…

**Acquired: Burning Shield**

The duo then revved up their rocket skis to float quickly across the icy lake as they had done before, only now they were treading water. Fortunately, this did not extinguish the shield; Sonic double-jumped into a fireball just in case, and made it to shore safely.

Now that they were ready, it was time to face the Mole-10's. Sonic charged down the small slope with Antoine right behind them, and blazed through the gauntlet of flamethrowers, making their attacks utterly useless. Sonic decided to add insult to injury by jumping up and down at all of the Rings that these mechanical moles were guarding.

**Ring Count: 97**

**Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble!**

"…Avalanche!" gasped Sonic, as he and Antoine realized that this last leg of their journey was going to be somewhat tough. The wave of snow was coming from the Howling Mountain, tallest of all. Though it was most likely due to an enemy's involvement, the duo had no time to figure out how this came to be. Sonic double-jumped toward an ice rail that would launch him down the steepest of slopes yet. On the way down, there were Rings as well as Ice Blocks blocking certain path directions.

**Ring Count: 101… 105… 112… 122… 134… 149**

The avalanche's wave of snow was just inches behind the duo, when they came to a slope that sent them flying through the air, over a bottomless pit, and straight into a cave opening where they would reach their Goal.

…

**- ACT I CLEARED! -**

**Ring Count: 149**

**Bonus Points (Time, Enemy Hit, Item Hit): 12000**

**Rank: A+ (Perfect!)**

**Level Up! –Sonic can now use "Homing Attack"**

**Level Up! –Antoine can now use "Sword Spark"**

…

**- ACT II -**

**Song: "Ice Cap Zone Remix"**

The deep, dank cave was not without its lights brought on by lamp-like crystals on the walls, but it was completely covered in ice, top to bottom. The Rocket Skis were useless here, and so the duo discarded them. They would instead need a similar power item, and once again they would have to run into an Ici-Kill in order to get it.

Sonic took the lead, but as he sped up he realized that he had way too much traction on the slippery floor, and nearly ran into a wall. It was by the grace of fate that a trio of Ici-kills was skating his way; he spun into a ball and let them glide right into his spines. As they shattered, he gained the new advantage.

**Acquired: Ice Jet-Skates**

Sonic took off in a flash down a narrow path of ice, careful not to let the falling stalactites above him crash down on his head. And as long as he was safe, so was Antoine. The path started to wind and split into two; Sonic took the one that sloped so he could form into a ball and go spinning into a line of Rings.

**Ring Count: 7**

Sonic almost had enough momentum to reach the top of a steep cliff, but spun back down to the lower level. In a spin-dash, he regained speed and shot up the slope and into the next tunnel, where Penguinators were waddling toward him. He then activated his new move, the Homing Attack, to bounce off them one at a time. Then his target shifted to an ice block; he hit it almost instinctively, and it opened a Ten-Ring Box.

**Ring Count: 17**

He skated onward, onto an icy floor with collapsing segments. He simply had to veer left and right to avoid falling through a hole before making it up a set of hovering ice blocks into the next corridor. He could see that this small area was guarded by Mole-10s, which were only sticking halfway out from the walls, blowing their torches in a timed pattern. Sonic needed only to wait for them to stop burning, then sped into them with his Homing Attack. The last one nearly charged up its torch before Sonic hit it, but he did so just in time.

Then the floor suddenly collapsed beneath his feet; fortunately, it was just a gateway into the next level of the path he was on. As he could see, the walls were still encased in ice, but there was steam spewing from a set of pipes on the ceiling. Strange, he thought; it was almost as if this cave was morphing into a factory.

He skated on, straight into a line of Rings.

**Ring Count: 22**

He now had the option of going left, toward a set of Star Flakes, or right toward two Ice Orbinauts. He veered left, and waited for the Star Flakes to launch their spikes in every direction. He ducked as one buzzed by, and was then safe to head straight for another ice block holding an item box inside. With his Homing Attack, he hit it twice.

**Acquired: Blazing Shield**

"Alright!" he cheered, as the Ice Orbinauts were hovering his way, their spikes spinning anxiously. He double-jumped toward them, and in a flash the Orbinauts were without spikes. The hedgehog took them out, one by one, before skating onward.

Sonic could have continued down an icy slope, but instead opted for an ice rail to grind on. He and his tag partner zoomed through a high level of the cave, careful of falling stalactites and spitting Star Flakes, while obtaining more Rings in the process.

**Ring Count: 34**

Sonic then leaped onto a collapsing ramp that sent him and Antoine over a frozen pond and into another corridor. There, another set of Mole-10s were waiting, but Sonic had a shield that could absorb their fire power, and so waiting for them to pause was no longer necessary. One by one, he homed in on them and took them out in one fell swoop.

"Awesome!"

He then spin-dashed through what was to be a break-away ice-wall, into a new open field. Here, he could see more steam pipes along the ceiling, but now they were snaking their way down the ice walls. This was really starting to get strange…

Up ahead was a line of Penguinators, who caught site of the duo and went into torpedo mode.

"Allow me," insisted Antoine.

As he took the lead, Antoine double-jumped over the first Penguinator and swung his sword into the second one. As he kept swinging, his sword started to give off an electric shock, a testament to its new power.

"Sword Spark!" he called out, and in a flash of blue lightning, all of his enemies were destroyed. Though impressive, it was only a close-range attack. To make it even more powerful, he would have to level-up some more.

"Come on," egged Sonic, and off they skated.

Antoine came to a dead-end, so he had to tag in Sonic so that he could break the ice wall with a spin-dash. When he did, the path ahead became an icy slope with two loop-de-loops and a ramp that led to more Rings…

**Ring Count: 43**

…Then Sonic, with his momentum, landed onto a secret hallway where there were three Ten-Ring Boxes waiting.

**Ring Count: 73**

On the other side of the secret hall were a line of Star Flakes, which managed to pierce the Burning Shield. This also made the team lose their ice skates, as it too counted as a partial shield. Undeterred, Sonic spin-dashed down a slope and into the next room, where ice was now giving way to gold steel and steam pipes.

Sonic and Antoine took a moment to realize what was happening; clearly, a factory _was_ being formed within the cave, but what its purpose was remained a mystery. The ice was almost completely gone by this time; even if without skates, they could now run along the surface without loss of traction.

"Don't touch ze steam," warned Antoine; "I've got a bad feeling about zat."

Indeed, the steam would have frozen them in their place, but the duo had even more things to worry about at this point. Such as the Mole-10s coming their way; normally they hide in holes, but now a team of them was marching toward the heroes with their flamethrowers mercilessly bearing down on them. Sonic spin-dashed away from them, careful not to activate the homing attack. Instead he took a secret pass where a Ten-Ring box was waiting.

**Ring Count: 83**

"Almost there," he muttered to himself.

Sonic then fled to a set of hovering ice blocks which acted as steps toward a higher level. The path he was now on would lead to a dead end, as the Mole-10s were blocking the real way out. But Sonic had a plan; all he needed were 17 more Rings.

Just as luck would have it, he found a block of Rings along this high path.

**Ring Count: 91**

"Come on," he muttered impatiently. Now that he had claimed this level's rings, he had to find another route.

Sonic jumped down to the ground and zoomed past the Mole-10s just as they were getting closer, and started to scale up one of the steam pipes on the wall. He dodged a puff of steam just in time, then activated his homing attack on a hidden Ten-Ting box.

**Ring Count: 101**

Satisfied, Sonic jumped back down to the ground, where the eight Mole-10s were ready to fight. This was the moment Sonic was striving for:

"TEAM UP!"

**Ring Count: 1**

At the cost of one hundred Rings, Sonic and Antoine clasped onto the one sword, and it magically morphed into two. Both the hedgehog and the coyote were holding golden long swords, reminiscent of that of _"Sonic and the Black Knight."_ Together, they were invincible, and twirled their shiny weapons around, cutting through their enemies into ribbons. Once the field was clear, the duo was rewarded with falling Rings and a clear path to the Goal.

**Ring Count: 15**

.

**- ACT II CLEARED! -**

**Ring Count: 15**

**Bonus Points: 25000**

**Rank: A (Great!)**

…

The heroes exited the other side of the cave, where it was now apparent that a steel factory was indeed being built on the other side of the mountain. They paused to get a good look at it before saying anything.

Sonic broke the silence with, "You know, bad guys don't really like to be subtle about these things, do they?"

"It almost looks like an oil rig," observed Julie-Su, "but is that really what they're digging for?"

Before anyone could respond, they heard: "Intruder alert!"

Gasping, they all turned to the voice behind them. There standing ahead was a fully metallic wolf, armed with two icicle swords.

"Intruders! Prepare to be arrested and taken in for questioning."

Sonic looked to Antoine with a nod. "Ready, bud?"

"As you say, ready when you are," nodded Antoine in reply.

.

**- MIBI-BOSS BATTLE: VS. METAL GUNTIVER -**

**Song: Mini-Boss Theme of **_**"Sonic 3"**_** Remixed**

With Team Swift Knights still in play, it was up to Sonic and Antoine to beat this wolf-bot into submission.

Sonic opened with his homing attack on the wolf-bot's head, and managed to get two hots in before the creature swung its ice swords at him.

Antoine then took his turn with, "Sword Spark!" This stunned the creature, freezing it in place for a second or two. Antoine then hit him when he had the chance, and then it recovered.

"Sword Spark!" he summoned again, and once more the wolf-bot was stunned. Antoine got in another hit to the poor Robian's head before it recovered again.

"Hostility Levels, increased!" The wolf-bot spun himself into a mini-tornado, with his swords held out like helicopter blades. They managed to hit Antoine, but Sonic recovered what Rings he could.

**Ring Count: 7**

"My turn," said Sonic, as he waited for the wolf-bot to stop spinning. When it did, Sonic homed in on his head again, and spun into him once-twice-three times. That was all it took; the Robian wolf fell in defeat, electric bolts spewing from his limbs and ice swords melting away.

.

**- MISSION: CLEARED! -**

"Sweet, we did it!"

"My pleasure, mon ami."

.

The whole gang of heroes crowded around the robotic wolf as he continued to shake and sputter electricity from his limbs. They knew deep down he was still a living breathing life form, trapped in metal.

"You won't be so big and bad after this," joked Amy as she held out her purple Sol Emerald toward the wolf. "By the powers of Chaos and Balance, of Order and Anarchy… **Release**!"

In a purple flash, metal broke away into billions of pieces…

.

**- YOU'VE RELEASED: GUNTIVER THE WOLF! -**

.

The brown wolf blinked his eyes awake for the first time in what would have been months. Dazed, he rubbed his head before realizing whose presence he was in.

"P-princess Sally Acorn?" he muttered, still unbelieving.

"Yes, we've all come to liberate the Kingdom of Canus. And you are?"

"Guntiver the Wolf," he replied with a bow. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance… And is this Sir Antoine?"

Sonic elbowed Antoine with a smile; "He helped us get you back to normal."

Guntiver smiled humbly at the coyote knight. "I knew your father, the high general."

"Y-you have? When?" gasped a surprised Antoine.

"Oh yes. He was trained here, in this kingdom, before he moved to Acorn. Our parents practically grew up together. You know, I'm sure if he saw you today, he'd be very proud of you."

All Antoine could do at that point was smile and blush.

…

Meanwhile, somewhere in Lobo Village Zone, a hut was preoccupied by Lien-Da and her personal maidens, along with young Rutan. The Mistress was being groomed by a vanity mirror by Gae-Na, who was careful to brush her mistress' real quills, not her cyber ones.

"Any news on our new guest?" asked the queenly she-echidna. And by that, she meant the recently melted Ixix Mammoth.

"None, Mistress," replied one of the lower-ranking hand maidens. "However, there is a report coming in from Frozen Peak Zone." As she read the message on her wristwatch computer, the maiden gulped worriedly. "Oh…um…"

"Well?" stirred Lien-Da impatiently.

"M-Mistress, the-the Zone, it's…"

"Stolen back," guessed Lien-Da as she waved for Gae-Na to stop brushing her quills. "…No matter; we still have the upper hand. And if my tailor's quick enough, I'll have another surprise for-"

"My mistress!" panted a robed echidna as he rushed into the living room. He paused to bow before Lien Da while holding a long box.

"Is that what I think it is?" she smiled wickedly, before grabbing onto the gift box. As she opened it, her eyes gleamed with joy. "Oh, Archer! You've done it, it's perfect!"

"My pleasure, Mistress Lien-Da," bowed the shadowy echidna male.

A curious Gae-Na dared to ask, "My lady, what is that?"

Lien-Da rose from her seat and proudly displayed her new furry garment. "This, my dear Gae-Na, is going to be a special surprise for Princess Sally. I just can't wait to see the look on her face when she sees this… She's simply going to _die_! …Hehehehe-hahahahaha!"

**.**

**LOADING ZONE…**


	21. LOBO VILLAGE ZONE: TechTeamRosy Rascals

**21. "Of Wolves and Dingoes"**

.

To the south of Frozen Peak laid a vast, lushly green highland with massive rolling hills and boulders scattered across open plains. Though the road was anything but straight, Tails and Rotor's vehicles kept a fast and steady pace. Tails' vehicle, The Sleet, was built like a race car with a silvery lupine front; its wheels could switch over to jet skis whenever needed. Rotor's vehicle, The Dingo, was brightly orange with violet headlights, and lined in yellow on its three-barrel cannon. It moved like a tank, but should the terrain go aquatic, it could switch to a submarine mode.

New to the traveling group was Guntiver, who was freed from his robotic prison by Amy. He clutched onto the tail end of the Dingo, along with Julie-Su and Amy, while Antoine and Bunnie held onto the tail end of the Sleet. Sonic and Sally (charged by her Sol Emerald) were running alongside the vehicles.

"This valley is home to the Wolf Nation," explained Guntiver. "Just a few miles south of here lies what we call the Onyx Temple, where all the canine leaders gather to discuss crisis such as this. I was on my way there when I got captured, along with some of my friends."

"Do you know what happened to the other wolves, and why there was a factory back there?" asked Sally as she peddled her feet.

Guntiver frowned, "I don't know what became of the others, but from what I can remember, those factories are meant to dig for fossil fuels, like oil and coal, or whatever else could be used to fuel Robotnik's armies."

"Any chance of us finding Robotnik or the Dark Legion in the village?" asked Julie-Su.

"Maybe, but it's more likely they're at the Onyx Temple. As long as it's under they're control, we canine folk are defenseless."

"Then let's pick up the pace, people!" shouted Sonic as his feet peddled ever faster.

As they raced on, a strange object was seen in the distance. It was a gigantic white and blue orb with drills lined along its edges, and equipped with four long tentacles that would shoot lasers. Its wheels were like that of a standard tank, but it was unclear as to who was piloting the strange machine.

"Hey guys? D-do you see that thing? What is it?" gasped Rotor.

"Whatever it is, it's headed for Lobo Village!" replied Guntiver worriedly.

"Okay team," announced Tails, "let's rev up!"

…

**- LOBO VILLAGE ZONE -**

**.**

**Team Selected: Tech-Team (Tails and Rotor)**

**.**

**- ACT I -**

The Sleet, piloted by Tails, was armed with two cannons. Sonic was in one, and Sally was in the other. This vehicle was built for both terrestrial and aquatic transportation, as it could switch from wheels to jet skis.

The Dingo, piloted by Rotor, was once again the bigger and heavier cousin of the Sleet. It too had dual transportation, only it also counted to be a tank. Within its three cannon barrels were Antoine, Bunnie, and Guntiver, ready to launch at any given time.

"We gotta beat that guy to the village," ordered Tails to his tag partner, as their vehicles zoomed into play.

The mossy green fields looked safe enough, but pit and spike traps were scattered all around. As if that wasn't challenging enough, the fields and skies were also being patrolled by Badniks. Seen previously from the Acorn Kingdom, returning now were **Motobugs** and **Buzz Bombers**. But new to the scene were **Rollers**, armadillo-like robots that would roll down a hill as if disguising themselves as boulders. Also new were **Yadorin**,which looked like spike-shelled hermit crabs but were wheeled like Motobugs, and hiding in plain sight waiting to strike were **Hoppers**, named for their grasshopper appearance.

It was two Motobugs that came after the team first, but Tails was in the lead with the faster of the two vehicles and so all he had to do was veer past them, and straight into a line of rings.

**Ring Count: 5**

Crossing over a log bridge, Tails made haste down the path toward small hills; one of which he scaled across to increase his speed. Then a trio of Buzz Bombers were coming his way, so he launched Sonic in ball form first, followed by Sally. They both hit their targets easily. But then Tails realized that some rings were hovering in the air, positioned right behind the flying Badniks. Since his vehicle couldn't jump for them, he shot Sonic through the cannon to snag them.

**Ring Count: 10**

From the distant hill, Rollers were cascading down and headed for Tails. He decided to "tag" Rotor, since his vehicle was better equipped for battle.

"Comin' at'cha!" cheered Rotor, as his vehicle mowed down the Rollers on impact. Though his Dingo was slower than the Sleet, it was definitely the easier one to steer. Rotor turned right and broke through a pile of boulders, and was rewarded with a hidden Ten-Ring Box.

**Ring Count: 20**

Moving on, he waited for two Buzz Bombers to come diving down on him before he launched Antoine and Bunny out of his cannon. Antoine hit his target, but Bunnie missed hers. Fortunately, the Buzz Bomber that survived didn't turn around to finish its attack, and so the Dingo rolled on.

"Tag me!" called Tails from behind, and he went flying down a zig-zag patterned slope. The Sleet picked up speed while going down the hill, and so when it hit solid ground it bulldozed over an unsuspecting Hopper. While still in its high-speed mode, the Sleet then veered right, drifting into a half-circle pattern of Rings.

**Ring Count: 26**

Tails hit the brakes as he came toward a tree. Curious, he shot the Sonic cannon at its top. Sonic went barreling through the tree branches, but caught nothing. He was then pulled back by a bungee chord before the Sleet moved on. That's when a sneaky Yadorin came from behind him; its spiky hide was tough enough to pierce the Sleet.

**Ring Count: 0 – 12**

"Darn it," frowned Tails as he recovered only twelve rings after being hit.

On sped the Sleet, picking up speed from a speed booster in the middle of the road. He was careful to drift away from spikes that were jetting up from the earth, and passed through a small tunnel where rings were waiting.

**Ring Count: 17**

Two Hoppers were waiting on the other side of the tunnel, but Tails timed his vehicle right so that as they landed, he ran them over mercilessly.

A rock barrier was coming his way, so he tagged in Rotor; "Let me!" exclaimed the walrus.

Rotor then fired his Guntiver cannon; the brown ball of fur was strong enough to break through the barrier, and the Dingo rolled on.

Coming to a steep hill, the Dingo was fortunate enough to get a lift from a spring board at the foot of the hill. On the hilltop, the Dingo shot down two Motobugs, as well as fire the Guntiver cannon into a tree where an Electro-Shield was hiding.

**Acquired: Electro-Shield**

This was the Dingo's lucky break; as soon as Rotor rolled down the hill's steep opposite side, rings from everywhere were magnetizing toward him.

**Ring Count: 17- 21- 28**

The electro-shield also cam with a special double-jump feature, giving both the Sleet and the Dingo extra lift on their pathway. This was especially handy when it came to the Yadorin; normally they were invincible with their spiked shells, but one the Dingo performed a double-jump, all Badniks within sight fell onto their backs.

"My turn!" said Tails, as he quickly took the lead. He wasted no time in running through all felled Badniks while they were still stunned. Only one Yadorin regained its footing, but by then the Sleet was on its way toward its next goal.

**Ring Count: 28- 34- 42**

Rings were piling down on the Sleet as it just barely crossed their paths. But as Tails' vehicle turned a corner, the strange machine he saw earlier was suddenly in view. "There it is!" he yelled, and took off after it.

Though it was a distance away, the machine was clearly headed straight for the small village that the zone was named after. As Tails drew closer to it, he was beginning to pass by small huts with straw roofs. There were also more trees scattered in this area; some of them had to have secret items in them.

Tails fired once at a tree with the Sally cannon, and snagged a Ten-Ring Box.

**Ring Count: 52**

"Yeah!" he cheered, satisfied with himself. But now he was losing sight of the hamster ball-like war machine; he boosted up his speed.

The Sleet then crossed over another log bridge, but then it had to double-jump to avoid the line of spikes at the end of it. Again, all Badniks in sight were stunned, but Tails decided that their plight was secondary to the task at hand. As he sped on, the machine was getting closer.

But then, disaster struck! A team of Rollers came falling down from sights unknown and deliberately blocked Tails' path.

"Let me!" said Rotor from behind, and he took the lead. Like a bulldozer, the Dingo plowed through the Roller barrier within seconds. But the Rollers had done their job; now the machine was nowhere to be seen, it must have changed its course.

"I got an idea of where he went," said Rotor, changing his direction leftward, toward a high hill in the distance. Along his way, more rings came flying at him.

**Ring Count: 52- 59- 64**

Buzz Bombers were now swarming the air, but Rotor only had to fire his Bunnie cannon at one of them in order to clear his path. And this time, her target was hit. "Yee-haw!" she cheered in victory.

The Dingo wasn't swift enough to climb the hill on its own; fortunately a set of springs were placed along its uphill slope so that Rotor could simply ricochet himself to the top. Finally, at the roof of the hill, he had a perfect view of the whole Lobo Village.

Rotor paused to pull out a telescope, and eyed his target. "…There it is. Oh no, it's charging for that dam up ahead!"

Indeed, there was a great wooden damn at the far side of the village, keeping a great lake at bay. The hamster wheel of a tank that the team was chasing was positioning itself to slam right into it. The team had to act fast.

"Tag me!" yelled Tails. The Sleet took the lead and flew down the hill like a boulder off a mountain. But there were spike traps on the way down, so he had to double-jump a few times to make a clean landing.

Now that the wrecking ball was clearly in sight, it was time to let loose the cannons. First, the Sleet fired Sonic, and he made a hit to the ball-shaped tank as it passed by. But on the firing of Sally, she missed her target.

"Tag me!" yelled Rotor, and his Dingo positioned itself in front. As the wrecking ball rammed into the dam, the Dingo let loose its Antoine cannon. Antoine hit the target, but suddenly the white tank went in reverse. It was going for a second ramming.

The Dingo lined up its target, and fired the Guntiver cannon. It missed, and with a great "WHAM," the wrecking ball collided with the dam's wall again. Water was starting to trickle out from the damaged logs.

Quickly, the Dingo fired its Bunnie cannon, and hit its target just as it went by.

Now Buzz Bombers were coming in to distract the Dingo; one of them flew right into the electro-shield, breaking it. Rotor had no choice but to rapidly fire his cannons at the remaining Buzz Bombers, while the wrecking ball/tank slammed into the dam's wall a third time.

"Tag me!" yelled Tails, and the Sleet took over.

The team had only a few more shots before the war tank hit the dam a fourth and fifth time, otherwise the mission would fail. Luckily, Sleet's cannon firing was much faster than the Dingo's, and before the wrecking ball could even begin its fourth charge, the Sonic and Sally cannons fired into it.

Tails didn't even bother to deal with the next swarm of Buzz Bombers that were headed his way; he allowed them to hit him.

**Rings: 0**

Keeping his aim on the war machine, Tails fired the Sonic cannon one last time, and the machine finally started to show signs of submission by spewing electric bolts on its wheels. Then, they collapsed underneath it, making it nothing more than a glorified hamster ball.

…

**- ACT I CLEARED! -**

**Ring Count: 0**

**Bonus Points: +2000**

**Rank: B+ (Not Bad!)**

…

In his last desperate attempt, the creature within the giant ball used up all of his strength to roll it toward the dripping dam. The heroes could only watch at that point, as the machine they tried so hard to stop was now pummeling itself into the dam.

To everyone's surprise, the dam didn't break, and that was because the monstrous ball was wedged right in its center, trapped. But even so, water was starting to rush out and flood the village.

"Quick," ordered Princess Sally, "everyone break into teams and try to find the locals before this whole place goes under!"

As everyone else paired off and took off in a flash, Amy darted over to Julie-Su, with whom she was itching to make a team name for: "Pink Power?"

"No," said Julie-Su quickly.

"Sister Sledgehammer?"

"No."

"Tier-Amy-Su?"

"No!"

"Rosy Rascals?"

"…Where did that one come from?"

"That was my nickname when I was a kid; Rosy the Rascal."

Julie-Su made a face as she pondered. "….It's do-able."

"Great!" Amy jumped for joy. "Let's go, partner!"

The hot-pink echidna sighed deeply as she took off after her bubblegum-pink counterpart.

…

**- ACT II -**

**Team Selected: Rosy Rascals (Amy and Julie-Su)**

"Let's get that maniac before he makes things worse!" growled Julie-Su, as she and Amy took off ahead.

The girls wanted to finish the machine off, but first they had to power-up. So instead of facing it head on, they turned back and started to run through the village rather aimlessly. Tailing them were two Motobugs, which Julie had no trouble shooting down.

As they raced on, the water level was rising to their ankles. Julie, in the lead, scaled a hut to its rooftop to grab three rings.

**Ring Count: 3**

Then she made a daring long jump onto the next hut, where three more rings were waiting.

**Ring Count: 6**

She then jumped down to ground level, where Yadorins were pacing back and forth. She jumped over them, avoiding their spikes, and ran toward a spring box that launched her to the roof of a two-story building. Clearly, this village had some sophistication to it, not just random one-room housings.

On the roof of the two-story building laid a zip-line, which connected to a one-story row house. As she zipped downward, Julie grabbed more rings.

**Ring Count: 11**

"I need fire power," muttered the she-echidna. She crossed the row house and hurled herself into a ball, bouncing into a bush that had a hidden item box.

**Acquired: Basic Shield**

A basic shield was not what she wanted, but it was enough to at least keep the on-coming Badniks at bay. She raced on until she came to a pitfall with a spring board as its only escape route. As Julie-Su bounced of the board, it carried her into another spring board, then a third; all at one, she zig-zagged upward toward a moving platform that hovered in mid-air. She waited for it to carry her across the aerial plain, and onto a platform that went straight up. She jumped off it, and landed onto a rooftop-

_Sting!_ A spike trap popped out of the space Julie landed on, and the force not only broke her shield but pushed her completely off the roof and onto solid ground with a splash. The water level now was halfway to her knees, but Julie was determined to get to the high ground, and so she went back to the spring-board pattern and retraced her steps. Only this time, she was more careful about timing her jump when the spike trap came around again.

"Tag me!" called out Amy. Julie stepped aside, and the hammer-wielding she-hog took the lead. She ran across the rooftop of a three-story building and swung her hammer at an on-coming Yadorin. Since jumping on it would have wounded her, it was best to use brute force instead.

Amy leaped into a ball from the ledge and onto another, where she broke open two Ten-Ring boxes.

**Ring Count: 31**

On the end of this rooftop was a zip-line, only this second one shot straight across instead of downward. It carried Amy very quickly, onto a pedestal of sorts, with its top covered in moss. She ducked down to see what was at ground level, and could see that two Hoppers were crouching down to appear like grass. Amy wasn't fooled; she rolled into a ball and fell on top of them before splashing into the water.

The water level was now knee-high, and she was clearly at a loss of where to go until she noticed another hovering platform ahead. She hopped onto it, and it carried her straight up, into a patch of rings…

**Ring Count: 36**

…and gave way for what appeared to be a stone-cut aqueduct, similar to those of Ancient Rome. She raced across it, careful to swing at three Buzz Bombers on the way, until it started to break away under her feet. Amy then took a leap of faith, and jumped off, landing onto a moss-covered block of stone. Curious, she jumped and slammed her hammer onto it, smashing it into pieces. Hidden inside was a shield box.

**Acquired: Basic Shield**

"No time to lose!" she said, as she hopped back onto the ground level of the village. The water was still knee-high, slowing down Amy's pace, so she started to jump across the path until at last she came to another stone block. When she smashed this one, it gave way to a spring board. She jumped on it, and it sent her flying vertically into the air. As she landed onto another aqueduct pipeline, she snagged more rings.

**Ring Count: 42**

She paused and witnessed something terrible: "The wrecking ball… it's loose!"

Indeed, the wrecking ball machine had rolled out of its wedge against the dam's logging, and suddenly a torrent of water came pouring out onto the village. Everyone else scrambled, while Amy and her teammate stood their ground. They were well out of the water's way, but time was clearly running out.

"Hurry, tag me!" demanded Julie-Su.

Julie took the lead and dashed across the aqueduct's path and jumped onto a higher pipeline before the previous one broke apart. She picked up speed, along with some rings…

**Ring Count: 51**

…before jumping onto an even higher pipeline. There, a line of Hoppers were waiting, but Julie needed onto to roll into a ball and slammed them down like they were bowling ball pins. The pipeline then curled downward, sending Julie underwater momentarily before sloping upward again. As she winded up and down, she rolled into a line of rings.

**Ring Count: 59**

With the pipeline now giving way, Julie took a flying leap onto a zip-line that shot her straight up into the air, onto a four-story building's rooftop.

Suddenly, **WHAM!** The mechanical hamster wheel of doom rolled itself into the base of the building, and it was starting to crumble. Julie had only a few short seconds to make one decisive hop after another, bouncing from one safe platform to another before they all started to crumble. Her final bounce was on top of the wrecking ball, and she landed right in front of it with a splash.

As Julie-Su and Amy looked on, the machine's four tentacles started to peel out and open up their laser guns…

.

**- MINI-BOSS BATTLE: vs. DRAGO'S WRECKER -**

**Song: Mini-Boss Theme from "**_**Sonic 3 and Knuckles**_**," remixed**

"Keep behind me!" said Julie, as she whipped out her pistols. She was a quick shot, taking out the first laser gun in just three hits.

The second laser fired, breaking Julie's shield bubble, but that didn't stop her from shooting it down next.

"My turn!" demanded Amy, and she came out swinging with her hammer. She jumped just in time before the third laser could hit her, and with her Double Smack attack, it was destroyed. The pattern repeated itself with the fourth and final laser: dodge, jump, Double Smack.

But the fight wasn't quite over; as his last laser was obliterated, the pilot of the machine finally smashed his way out from its center. He was revealed to be a white wolf with bright yellow eyes, fully-metallic arms, and dressed in a dark blue one-piece suit. He lunged at Amy, but she was quick to jump out of the way.

"TEAM-UP!"

At the cost of just fifty of their rings, the team performed their Special Attack, the "Piko-Pummel." Amy's massive hammer morphed into two, one for herself and one for Julie. Amy aimed right, Julie aimed left, and at once they plowed their mallets into each other, but with their enemy caught in the crossfire. It counted as five hits, and only one more swing from Amy's true hammer was enough to bring the wolf down.

.

**- MISSION:COMPLETE! -**

"Well done, partner."

"Yeah! Girl power!"

.

**- ACT II, MISSION COMPLETE! -**

**Ring Count: 9**

**Bonus Points: 10,000**

**Rank: A (Very Good!)**

**Level Up! –Amy can now use "Piko-Dash!"**

**Level Up! –Julie-Su can now use "Rapid Fire!"**

…

In the end, Lobo Village was a drenched mess. Most of it, in fact, was completely underwater by the time the heroes found dry land again. It was, to say the least, a dark victory.

Julie-Su dragged the stunned white wolf to the bank where her team was waiting. "…Any survivors?" she hesitated to ask them.

Sonic shook his head, "No one was there; the whole village was deserted."

Suddenly, the white wolf began to snicker. His fiendish laughter caused Julie's fur to stand on end; she tossed him onto his side, slammed her boot down on him and aimed her gun in his face. "Talk, scumbag."

The crazed white wolf opened his yellow eyes. "…heheheheee…. Heheheheh!"

"Are you a wolf, or a hyena? SPEAK!"

"You want to know what happened to the wolves of this village?" hissed the white wolf. "They're all been captured, every last one of them except for me. I was the only one among them who knew better than to fight against the Dark Legion, so I joined them instead. They rewarded me with these new arms and that Wrecker machine there. Hee-hee-hee… You did a good job tearing it down, but you actually did _me_ a favor by destroying the village! Hahahahaha!"

"What do you mean by that?" asked Julie-Su.

The white wolf was allowed to sit up, and he did so as he continued to gloat. "This village was the only place left of the whole Kingdom of Canus that hasn't yet fallen to Robotnik's empire. I took it upon myself to tear it down so that even IF the wolves were somehow rescued, they'd have no home left to go to. They'd be sitting ducks waiting to be roboticized all over again!"

"How could you do this to your own people!" growled Sally.

"It was easy," smiled the wily one. "All I had to do was choose between being a mindless slave or a free-willing lackey that could be paid for his services. Really, if you had the choice, which would you take sweetheart?"

"Treacherous slime!" snarled Guntiver. "Julie, give him what's coming to him."

"No," frowned Julie-Su. "I can think of lots of better punishments for this creature… Besides, I want more answers, like: Where is the Dark Legion now? And where are their wolf slaves?"

"Heh," grinned the white wolf. "You mean you don't even know? Some heroes you are! The Legion's halfway to the Onyx Shrine by now, and the slaves are-"

**BANG!**

Everyone gasped in stunned surprise, as their captive enemy took a laser shot right through his neck. He slumped over, lifeless.

"Julie…?" muttered Sally.

The echidna shook her head as she raised her loaded gun. "It wasn't me."

Quickly, Sonic and the others turned and looked around to see where that shot had been taken from…

.

"That stupid mongrel never knew when to shut up," muttered the gunmen, who turned out to be a half-roboticized dingo. The whole right side of his face was completely metallic with a red left eye, while the left side of his body was mertallic from the neck down. He donned a black and blue suit with an emblem for the Dark Legion on his chest, a testament to his allegiance. He had been taking cover behind a boulder, when a blue hedgehog caught sight of him in the distance.

"Hey! You! Over there, stop!" called out Sonic. He tried to chase after him, but the shadowy figure escaped through teleportation. Poor Sonic could only pause and scratch his head.

.

A stunned Amy hid behind Rotor, while the rest of the team stood in awe at the sight of the dead white wolf. Only Guntiver was bold enough to approach the body and examine it thoroughly.

"I knew this character," confirmed Guntiver. "His name was Drago. Never did like that son of a… Well, anyway, he got what he deserved as far as I'm concerned."

"But who was that other guy?" asked a shaken Amy. "The one who…?"

"The two-face?" asked Sonic as he hurried back to the others. "I dunno who he was, but he looked like a dingo. Can we trust their kind, Guntiver?"

"Most of them are alright," replied the brown wolf. "But did you say he had two faces?"

"Yeah; half-real, half-robotic."

Guntiver nodded solemnly. "Kage von Stryker. He's a bounty hunter; and no, we can't trust him anymore than we could Drago."

"So what now, y'all?" chirped Bunnie. "Do we go after Stryker, or the Legion, or look for th'wolf slaves?"

Sonic tapped his foot while thinking deeply for a moment, then he snapped his fingers. "Okay, there's plenty of us right now, but we've also got Knuckles and Shadow out there doing their thing. I saw we split into to factions; Sal, Amy, Bunnie and Julie, you guys go find Knux and the Faker."

"Right," nodded Sally. "I can locate them with my cell phone's map mode."

Sonic then added, "The rest of you hang with me, and we'll take on the Legion at Onyx Shrine Zone head on. Whaddya say, gang?"

"Agreed," replied Sally and Guntiver. The others agreed silently.

While the others were more than ready to go, poor Amy was still standing by the dead wolf's body. For the first time, perhaps, the seriousness of this adventure was beginning to sink in. She was at a complete loss for both words and thought, when a brown hand gently clutched onto hers.

"Come on Amy," purred Sally. "Let's get out of here."

Taking a gulp, the she-hog nodded once, and let the princess lead her away.

.

**- NEW TEAMS! -**

**TEAM ROYAL PAINS**

**Sally Acorn (Speed) and Amy Rose (Heal)**

**TEAM CYBER PUNKS**

**Bunnie Rabbot (Power) and Julie-Su (Stealth)**

… …

.

**-PAUSE GAME-**

**-GO BACK TO WORLD MAP-**

**Save Your Progress?**

**-YES-**

**-SAVING-**

**.**

**LOADING…**

.

**-WORLD MAP-**

**Worlds Unlocked: ACORN, FELIDAE, CANUS**

**-SELECTING CANUS-**

**CANUS KINGDOM: Frozen Peak Zone, Lobo Village Zone, Onyx Temple Zone**

**-SELECT ZONE: FROZEN PEAK-**

**.**

**-SELECT TEAM-**

**DARK CHAOS: Knuckles (Power) and Shadow (Stealth)-**

**.**

**RE-LOADING ZONE…**


	22. FROZEN PEAK ZONE: Team Dark Chaos

**22. "Here We Go Again!"**

.

Deep within the dense pine forest just east of Howling Mountain, Shadow the Hedgehog materialized. Normally, he would have needed a Chaos Emerald to warp from place to place, but there was something truly mystical about this Sol Emerald world. It was bothering him, not knowing just what was giving him this extra power; he was starting to wonder if he was evolving into something he wouldn't be able to control. But as he pondered this, a red figure glided down from the sky to meet up with him.

"There you are," smiled Knuckles.

Shadow glared at him and grumbled, "Will you stop stalking me? You're getting to be almost as bad as Amy! …..Almost."

"I thought we were a team," said Knuckles as he dropped his smile. "Besides, we'd make more progress if we worked together anyway."

"This is something of a personal matter," Shadow tried to explain patiently.

"What, you mean Rouge? Does it really bother you that she's working with that slimy weasel?"

Shadow sighed as he started to walk ahead of Knuckles. "If I know Rouge, she's only doing this for the fun of it. I can forgive her for that, but what I can't forgive is that thieving weasel making me look like a chump. As soon as I get to that first Special Stage, I swear I'll-"

"Incoming!" shouted Knuckles all of a sudden, in reaction to an on-coming cannonball. The two jumped away before it made its impact on the snowy earth. BOOM!

They quickly regained their footing as more cannonballs were flying in their direction. "Game on," said Knuckles.

…

**- FROZEN PEAK ZONE -**

**.**

**Team Selected: Dark Chaos (Knuckles and Shadow)**

**.**

**- ACT I -**

"Here we go!" cheered Knuckles as he took the lead. He rolled into a ball down the steep hill, careful to sway left or right to dodge cannonballs that were falling in his direction. He was also quick to roll straight into a few lines of Rings on the way down.

**Ring Count: 5… 10… 15… 20**

Upon reaching the bottom of the slope, he spin-dashed into a narrow path in the pine forest, where small Bomb-Bots were waiting. Whenever an enemy cam within a small radius of them, their bodies started to flicker just a few seconds before they exploded, like mines. Knuckles was quick to dodge two on the ground, then he used his climbing ability to scale a tree and enter a higher level of the Zone.

Knuckles then jumped into a glide to snag a few more Rings before reaching a small hilltop.

**Ring Count: 23**

"Tag me, you fool!" called out Shadow from behind, and so Knuckles tagged him so that he could take the lead.

Shadow skated down a winding path at the edge of the forest, when three Yeti-Bears were headed his way, armed with icicle bats. He honed in on one of them at a time, spinning into them before they had a chance to retaliate. He then scaled up a tree to leap over a pit trap waiting for him.

The black hedgehog then came within range of a Bomb-Bot, which was sitting right by a tree. When it exploded, it caused the huge tree to topple over, making a new path for he and Knuckles to cross. He took the path and entered a new area of the forest where two Ring boxes were waiting.

**Ring Count: 33, 43**

Cannonballs were flying across the sky, but they were nowhere near the heroes, so Shadow zoomed on with his jet-powered shoes. He skidded down a small slope and rolled into a Shield Box.

**Acquired: Fire Shield**

With a double-jump, Shadow flew across the area in the shape of a fireball.

"Let me at 'em!" called out Knuckles, and as he took the lead the Fire Shield was passed on to him.

Knuckles came to a pattern of ice blocks, which contained spikes jetting in and out of them. He studied their pattern until it was safe to jump up on them, thus using them as a step ladder to get to the cliff of a higher plain. When he did, he took off for the trees, scaling up the nearest one with his dagger-like knuckles. Waiting for him up top was another Ring box.

**Ring Count: 53**

He then jumped and took into a glide, when a stray bullet shot him down. He lost his shield, but thankfully not his Rings.

"What hit me!" he gasped, looking around frantically. He couldn't see where the shot came from because of the trees surrounding him, so he borrowed an idea from Shadow: he purposely ran to a Bomb-Bot leaned against a tree, and made it knock the tree down to clear the path.

He jumped onto the log, and saw that a brown-furred canine soldier was marching up to him, armed with a rifle-like weapon and firing it at will.

"…A dingo?" blinked Knuckles.

"Halt! Intruder!" called out the soldier before he fired more pellets at Knuckles. The echidna dodged the bullets by leaping into the air, gliding toward another pine tree then sticking to its trunk for safety.

"Tag me, you fool!" called out Shadow.

As Knuckles landed onto the snowy ground, he allowed Shadow to take the lead.

The black hedgehog skated down a very narrow path, where Rings were waiting to be snagged…

**Ring Count: 61**

"Halt, intruders!" came voices in the distance; the Dingo Soldiers were moving in fast. It was time to use…

"Chaos Control!"

At the cost of fifty Rings, Shadow warped himself and his partner out of the woods and into a clearing just halfway down the mountain.

**Ring Count: 11**

"We're at least out of the woods now," sighed Shadow.

Knuckles, staring down at the foot of the mountain, gulped at the sight of a gigantic golden tank piloted by two dingoes. "I wouldn't say that just yet," he gulped.

"FIRE!" screamed the dingo's commander.

**FOOM!**

The tank launched a missile that just barely missed Knuckles and Shadow, but managed to hit the mountain from near its top. This was the official cause of the Zone's avalanche, one which not even Sonic and friends would be safe from.

.

"Avalanche!" cried out Sonic, as he and Antoine raced down their side of the mountain to avoid getting buried in the tidal wave of snow.

.

Knuckles and Shadow seemed helpless as the tidal wave of snow was falling their way. But then Shadow hatched a clever plan: he took out his pistols and fired them on a boulder nearby, releasing it from the ground. "Get on!" he demanded.

The boys jumped on the boulder and allowed the force of the avalanche to push it forward, turning it into a surfboard of sorts. Similar to the same wave as seen in Lava River Zone, the team had to sway the rock back and forth to avoid being buried by it, while at the same time grab as many Rings as they could.

**Ring Count: 11… 18… 23**

"Turn left!"

**Ring Count: 29… 34… 42**

"Turn right!"

**Ring Count: 46… 48**

"Jump!"

Waiting for them at the foot of the mountain was a Goal post, just as the dingo army's tank started to pull away.

…

**- ACT I CLEARED! -**

**Ring Count: 48**

**Bonus Points: 2,000**

**Rank: B (Not Bad!)**

…

**- ACT II -**

After taking shelter, Knuckles peered over a snow drift to oversee the oncoming dingo army. They were wearing army clothes and green capes, some armed with tanks and others fully-robotic with jet-powered wings of gold.

"A whole army of dingoes," he mused in curiosity. "Where'd they come from?"

Shadow crouched down beside him and took notice. "Whoever they are," replied Shadow, "I think it's safe to say they're not friendly. Come on, let's get as far away from them as we can."

"Sounds like a plan," nodded Knuckles.

"And keep a sharp eye out for a Warp Ring!"

"An even better plan."

Shadow took the lead and skated down a winding path before he was spotted by some on-coming Dingo Soldiers. He then spin-dashed up a small slope that led to a high-level plain. Yeti-Bears were patrolling the area, but he decided that to fight them was a waste of his time. He zipped past them and collected a line of Rings.

**Ring Count: 10**

Suddenly, a large Dingo Tanker was starting to follow from behind. Shadow didn't feel like turning around to fight; his focus was solely on collecting Rings. He ran up to a bounce-button that launched him straight upward, to a vertical line of Rings.

**Ring Count: 15**

He then landed on a second level of the hill and took off before the Dingo Tanker could catch up. But now it was starting to fire cannonballs his way.

"Come on, tag me!" insisted Shadow's partner. With a slap of their hands, Knuckles took the lead.

Knuckles hurried over to a rock formation and climbed it just as the tanker was coming close. But just when he thought he had climbed his way out of trouble, a new foe came diving down from the sky: an Aerial Dingo! It was a golden, fully-robotic dingo-shaped robot with rocket-powered rings, and as if diving downward wasn't bad enough, it could also shoot laser pellets from its mouth. Before he knew it, Knuckles was hit.

**Ring Count: 0**

"Aurgh!" he growled in frustration. Feeling vengeful, he waited for the robot to dive bomb again, then he smacked it to pieces with a single punch. "Take that!"

Two more Aerial Dingoes were hovering in the air, and so Knuckles took cover in a nearby shrub. There, he accidentally found two boxes; one with ten Rings, and another with a shield.

**Ring Count: 10**

**Acquired: Fire Shield**

"Yes!" cheered Knuckles, as he double-jumped into a fireball, hitting one Aerial Dingo after another. He then raced across the plain to its other end, and spun down its slope where he found more Rings hiding.

**Ring Count: 17**

"I'll show you how it's done!" gloated shadow as he was tagged into play.

He skated into another wooded area, where bomb-bots were lying in wait. Also scattered around the area were more Yeti-Bears, armed with icicle clubs. Shadow had no choice but to shoot down one Yeti-Bear, then another, because they were in his way. Three lines of Rings were there as well; Shadow needed only to sway left and right to grab them.

**Ring Count: 22… 26… 30**

The sound of nearby cannonballs falling spooked shadow, only for a moment. Then suddenly, one cannonball smacked into a tall pine tree, knocking it over. Upon investigating it, shadow realized that it was hiding three Ring boxes within its hollowed trunk. A spin-dash was all it took to get them.

**Ring Count: 40, 50, 60**

"Excellent," smiled the black hedgehog.

"Halt! Intruders!" came the voice of a Dingo Soldier hiding through the trees. Shadow knew that if he warped now, he would lose his precious cargo. So instead, he tagged Knuckles into play.

"Alright," smiled the echidna excitedly. Quickly, Knuckles scaled a tree trunk to get enough lift for a glide. As he did so, he could clearly see some Aerial Dingoes coming his way. He wasn't worried, because he could see that they could only fly in a straight line, while he could shift his direction at will. He dodged each one carefully.

When he landed, Knuckles spin-dashed across the rest of the forest, then down a deep slope, straight through a long line of Rings.

**Ring Count: 72**

At the foot of the slope was a Dingo Tanker; there was no escaping this one. Knuckles double-jumped into a small glide, letting his fists pound into the front of the tank.

"I'll show you how it's done," said his tag partner.

Shadow took the lead once more, and whipped out his pistols. He aimed right at the top of the tank where he knew it was most sensitive, and fired three shots. Instantly, the tank exploded into rubble, and the dingo piloting it from inside bailed out only to land on his head, knocked out cold.

Both Shadow and Knuckles were elated to see that just behind the tanker lied a Goal Ring, only instead of being pure gold, this one was sparkling in multiple colors at once.

"Could it be…?" whispered Shadow, before he launched himself straight into it.

.

**- ACT II CLEARED! -**

**Ring Count: 72**

**Bonus Points: 3,000**

**Rank: A+ (Excellent!)**

**-50 Rings: Warp Ring Activated!**

.

.

**LOADING SPECIAL STAGE…**


	23. SPECIAL STAGE 1: Shadow vs Rouge

**23. "Out of the Frying Pan…"**

**.**

**- SPECIAL STAGE #1 -**

**Select Character: SHADOW**

Shadow and Knuckles were weightless for a moment, as a warm pink light overcame them. The next thing they knew, they were on solid ground, made up of bright blueish-green crystal. They paused to take in the surreal atmosphere, when-

"Well! It's about time," announced Rouge, as she and Fang floated into the scene.

"Whoooo-doggie! Look wat da cat dragged in, partner!"

Shadow's eyes flared with hate. "Finally! You're mine, weasel."

"Sorry Shadow," winked Rouge in reply, "I've agreed to make this first run." Her saying that only made him grumble all the angrier.

"First run?" blinked Knuckles. "What do you mean?"

"Look around ya, boys," grinned Fang. "This here Special Stage is both a maze and a racing course; all we gotta do is outrun tha likes o' you, an' that purty lil' Chaos Emerald at the end of tha road is ours!"

Indeed, the crystallized maze was very reminiscent of the original Special Stages, except the teams were no longer weightless. But only one team member could run the course, just to make things fair.

"Shadow, you take her," said Knuckles. "You're faster then I am."

"Alright," nodded Shadow.

**TIME START: 00:02::00**

"Oh!" chirped Rouge as she noticed the timer hovering about their heads. "That reminds me; this is a timed race. If we waste more than two minutes here, then the closest player to the emerald wins automatically. Ready-set-go!" she fluttered her wings and took off in a flash.

Shadow turned on his rocket boots, and away he skated after the bat-girl.

Fang dared to race after them, but his tail was snagged by a clawed mitten. "Uh-uh," Knuckles denied, "you're not going anywhere."

Ten seconds into the race, and already Rouge was well in the lead. She was the first to grab the line of Rings along the path, as well as a Time Bonus which would only benefit Shadow, not her. Time Bonuses came in the form of weightless orange balls with a number on them; the number indicated how many seconds would be put back on the clock.

After Rouge turned a corner, Shadow was completely lost; the stage was starting to twist and turn into a maze. He jumped up when he probably should have moved downward, and came into an area full of Rings surrounded by bumper stars. He collected 10 rings, but in this realm they were utterly useless.

**TIME LEFT: 00:01::35**

After realizing he had reached a dead end, Shadow was quick to retrace his steps and jump up to a new area. Here he found more Rings, two walls full of bumper stars, and- thankfully- a Time Bonus.

**TIME BONUS: +5 Seconds**

Shadow came to another fork in the road, and jumped upward. The path twisted into a half-circle, into an upside-down level which required him to jump onto a bumper star in order to reach the next doorway. When he got there, he could see Rouge in the distance and felt satisfied that he was at least going the right way now.

Shadow boosted up his speed once he reached a straight path, and once again the stage turned in one-hundred eighty-degrees, turning him right side-up. He tailed Rouge until she came into a small corridor where bumper stars were keeping her from staying on course. Shadow himself had that trouble, but he at least managed to fly upward and into a Time Bonus.

**TIME BONUS: +10 Seconds**

**TIME LEFT: 00:01::41**

"Keep up, hon!" teased Rouge as she made it through the room and back into the lead. Together, she and Shadow jumped into the next corridor, which swung them around a sharp corner and into a fork in the road. Rouge went left, Shadow went right. This would nearly be his undoing, as he once again ran straight into a dead end. He snagged seven more Rings before heading back to where he had lost Rouge, but lost some time along the way.

When he came back to the fork in the road, he hung a left and started free-falling down a pit, into the next bumper star room. He could see that he needed to go downward toward the next hallway, but once again he got caught in a barrage of bumper stars.

**TIME LEFT: 00:00::59**

When he got to the next hallway, the stage once again spun on a one-hundred and eighty degree angle, but by now Shadow was used to it. The hall was now long enough for him to pick up speed, and though he could have easily hung a right to catch up with Rouge, he noticed a small corridor to the left which was hiding a Time Bonus. He caught it just as the stage turned on its head once more.

**TIME BONUS: +15 Seconds**

Shadow jumped back onto the path of Rouge, and finally caught up to her with nearly thirty seconds left in the race. Now, they were neck and neck.

"You know, Shadow, this would be so much more fun if it was you and me against those two losers."

"If you're trying to get on my good side, you're not doing a good job Rouge."

"See, this is why I'm with Fang, at least _he_ knows how to have fun once in a while."

"This isn't a game, you foolish-"

"Whoops, can't talk right now! Chaos Emerald dead ahead!" With that, she shoved him aside to catch a small lead.

"Aurgh!" he groaned loudly. "Treachery, thy name is bat!"

With the last leg of the race being a straight path to the red glowing gem, both characters picked up speed. But luckily, Shadow grabbed the last line of Rings- fifteen to be exact- to earn just a small lead ahead of Rouge as he crossed the finish line.

**FINISH!**

**TIME LEFT: 00:00::13**

**RING COUNT: 36**

"Ack! No fair," whined Rouge as she stomped the floor with her high heels.

Shadow smiled to himself as he clutched onto his prize; "Better luck next time, 'partner.'"

.

**- YOU'VE GOT A CHAOS EMERALD! -**

**Emeralds Obtained: Red**

**Emerald Bonus: 10,000**

**Time Bonus: 1300 Points**

**Ring Bonus: 3600**

**Total Points: 14,900- Continue Granted!**

.

**LOADING…**

.

Lobo Village Zone, one minute later.

The boys emerged from the warp circle, allowing it to vanish without a trace, when suddenly they were surrounded by gun-toting dingo soldiers, the very same ones they were attacked by earlier.

"Sheesh," sighed Knuckles, "you'd think we'd get at least one break after all that."

"Quiet, you!" barked one of the dingo soldiers, his teeth bared.

Shadow took one bold step forward. "What's going on here? Who are you people?"

"They are my men," said a baritone voice nearby. Shadow and Knuckles turned, and out from a small tent marched an even taller canine with a few scars on his face and muscle-bound arms. "And I am their General: Helmut Von Stryker is my name."

Knuckles couldn't help but gulp; this Stryker character looked like he could eat both him and shadow for breakfast. "Oh, okay. Nice to meet you, sir. Can we go now?"

"Not so fast," said the general as he raised a paw to the strangers. "This is our territory, Legionnaire, and we have a right to defend it against the likes of you."

Hearing that L word again made Knuckles' blood boil; "_This_ again?" he muttered with a scowl. He let Shadow do the talking.

"I am Shadow the Hedgehog, and this is Knuckles the Echidna. We come from a different world, looking for Chaos Emeralds."

"Ah," nodded Stryker, "so you're rogues then?"

"You could say that," frowned Shadow grimly.

The general brushed back his blonde crew-cut hair. "We are the Dingo Regime; hired guns for the mistress of this country, High Chief Lupe. We're on a mission to liberate those canine folk who have been enslaved but not yet roboticized, if you catch my drift."

"Okay, this is all starting to make sense now," smiled Knuckles. "Obviously, there's been a misunderstanding; we're all on the same side here."

The general raised an eyebrow. "You echidnas are terrible liars. Lock them up, boys."

As dingoes came at the pair and grabbed them by their arms, only Knuckles dared to struggle. "Hey! Listen, you don't understand! We're friends of Princess Sally, and Princess Blaze!"

"Hmph," mused Stryker. "Acorn? Felidae? They mean nothing to us." He then glanced over to his lieutenant; "Take them to the cell we set up for You-Know-Who; we'll deal with them later."

"Yes, sir," replied the young dingo with a salute.

While Knuckles tried once more to break free, he growled to his tag partner. "Shadow, use your Chaos Control!"

"And make ourselves look even more guilty? Yeah, good idea." Seeing Knuckles struggle once more, Shadow managed to kick him in his heel. "Relax! We've been in worse scrapes before."

"But the others… They may need us. And we have to warn them about these jokers!"

"You think I'm letting them take me captive for the hell of it? Just be patient… I've got a feeling these 'jokers' may come in handy soon."

The dingoes taking them prisoner paid no mind to what they were saying, which may have worked in their favor. Soon enough, the echidna and the hedgehog landed in a steel-barred cage big enough to fit three grown men. It wasn't long before the campsite was starting to grow quiet. Eerily quiet.

"Guard?" peeped Shadow suddenly, taking both the lone dingo guard and Knuckles by surprise.

"What do you want, needle-head?" replied the guard.

"I couldn't help but overhear the general say something about this prison being built for You-Know-Who… Who is 'You-Know-Who?'"

"You mean you don't know who… Oh, heh-heh-heh-heh. Well, I guess there's no harm in tellin' you, so here goes. There's only one man in all of Mobius that the general would wanna see rot in jail for life, more so than even Robotnik."

Shadow's curiosity peaked. "Is that a fact?"

The guard went on: "There's only ever been one dingo among us who turned his back on the general and forsaken everything we stand for- that kind of treason is punishable by death."

"You don't say."

Knuckles stomped his foot up against a bar and grumbled, "Oh, who cares about all this bull-"

"Shh," hushed Shadow. "Go on, Guard."

"Well," started the guard with a nervous gulp in his throat, "you can't blame the ol' general for taking the treason so personally. After all, he raised that boy and taught him everything he knows about being a hunter and a warrior. Just between you and me boys, I think the general blames himself for that kid turning out the way he did… Anyway, rumors are spreading that Ka- You-Know-Who- is sided with the Dark Legion, as a hired hitman of sorts. So, in truth, we're not just here freeing wolves, we're out to kill us a dingo… the one dingo whose name none of us are even brave enough to say out loud…"

.

"Kage."

General Helmut stood atop an icy cliff that looked over the edge of the tundra; so high was his elevation that he could see the greenery of the highlands in the far distance. His forest-green cape danced in the wind. He gazed in an almost hypnotic-like trance at the long road ahead, his paws balling into fists of hurt and rage.

"I will find you, my son. And when I do… I will kill you myself."

.

Meanwhile, in Onyx Temple Zone…

**CRASH!**

Rotor's Dingo vehicle bulldozed its way through an icy wall as part of its trek through the dark and mysterious caverns of the temple. Following him was Antoine, piloting the Sleet vehicle for once, while Sonic, Tails and Guntiver followed behind on foot. The whole group looked worn down from battle, as well they should have been, for the temple turned out to be full of Badniks and Legionnaires.

"Whew," sighed Sonic as he brushed off his legs. "Remind me to not take the long way next time."

As Rotor and Antoine parked their vehicles, Tails paused to stare at the frozen walls and icicle-covered ceiling. "…Where are we?"

"We should be in the heart of the temple by now," said Guntiver the Wolf. "…Strange, everything is covered in ice. This is not how I remember it."

"Well then," said Sonic as he stretched his legs, "let's give this place a much-needed warm up. Rotor, you got any fire cannons in those cars?"

"No," frowned the walrus, "but I think I can pick up the signal of a Fire Shield, if there's one nearby.

"Can't wait," said the impatient blue hedgehog. "I'm going in."

"Sonic, wait!" gasped Tails, just as his brother dashed into the only tunnel left to explore. The little fox sighed, "Eh, what's the point? I'm sure he'll be"

_WHOOSH!_ came a sudden wave of freezing smoke from the tunnel ahead.

"…fine?" gulped Tails nervously.

"…So," echoed a feminine voice from out of nowhere. "_This_ is the legendary Sonic the Hedgehog?" Suddenly, someone kicked an ice block out from the tunnel, causing it to slide in front of the team. As the heroes gazed at it in horror, the voice coldly said, "I am not impressed."

Tails and company were stunned at seeing Sonic frozen in mid-dash in the center of the ice block, and were frozen in fear. Just then, the figure that matched the voice dashed out of the tunnel and jumped onto the block as though it were a pedestal.

The last thing that the team saw was a dark lupine figure, bright blue beacons for eyes, and a wave of smoke coming from the creatures' hands that would put them in complete darkness.

.

Hours had passed, and the sun began to set in the highlands of the continent. By then, four travelers had found the path that would lead them to the campsite of the Dingo Regime. They- Sally, Amy, Bunnie and Julie- were welcomed by the gate guardians as they were recognized by the princess of Acorn. A lone dingo guard led them into the camp, where they would find their missing allies.

Knuckles and Shadow were already looking quite sleepy when the voice of Bunnie woke them up with, "Wake up, boys, y'all just made bail."

"Huh? Wha?" snorted Knuckles before rubbing his eyes awake.

Shadow too opened his eyes and smiled at the girls on the other side of the bars. "Well, it's about damn time you showed up."

Amy giggled, "Why, Shadow! If you needed our help, all you had to do was give us a call."

Then the Dingo Lieutenant walked into the scene with, "Halt! What is the meaning of this? Who are you people?"

The dingo guard replied, "Begging your pardon, Lieutenant, but these ladies are here to prove the innocent of these two prisoners."

The Lieutenant then gave Sally a look. "…Do I know you from somewhere?"

"I'm Sally, Princess of Acorn. Leader of the Acorn Freedom Fighters."

The tall dingo looked her up and down, then gasped. "Oh! So you are, princess! Forgive me, I didn't notice you without your… um… well, your tail."

Forgetting that her tail had been long once, Sally glanced at her back end with a small blush in her cheeks. "…Oh, yes! Um… I- I had that cropped off some time ago. It was always getting caught… _Ahem!_ Anyway, we were looking for our friends here and noticed your camp."

"These two?" asked the Lieutenant as his sword tapped the bar of Shadow and Knuckles' cage. "We caught them spying on us some time ago."

"Spying!" roared Knuckles; "We only ran into you guys by accident!"

"Easy Knuckles," said Julie with a tone of patience in her voice. "I know these Dingo types; they always shoot first and ask questions later."

"Hmph," huffed the tall dingo. "What would a Legionnaire know about-"

"Former Legionnaire," she snapped back quickly.

"Okay, everybody, calm down!" commanded Sally. "…Now look, we can argue till we're all blue in the face, but meanwhile the real bad guys are still out there, enslaving wolves and whoever else calls this land home. It would fit everyone's interest if we work together."

"You'll have to talk to our General first," said the Lieutenant. "We answer only to him, and he always gets the final say in what we do."

"Fine then. Where is he?"

"Out there, tracking his fool of a son, Kage."

"Stryker," growled Julie. "Last time we saw him, it was in Lobo Village Zone, and that place is underwater now thanks to some crazy wolf…. It's a long story."

"Well, I'm sorry," frowned the tall dingo, "but if you want to help these 'friends' of yours, you'll have to find General Helmut. He's probably halfway to Lobo Village as we speak."

"Well," sighed Amy with a frown as she looked down at her already muddy boots, "looks like we're gonna have to get our feet wet again."

Bunnie then looked back at the inmate with a warm smile. "Don't worry, boys, we'll getcha outta here faster than you can say 'Bob's yer uncle.'"

"I have no uncle," replied a confused Shadow.

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "It's an expression, you idiot."

"Oh."

Amy whispered to Julie, "I wonder how they got this far without killing each other."

Julie whispered back, "If we don't get back here soon, they just might."

So it was then settled; the girls were back on the road toward Lobo Village.

**.**

**-SAVING PROGRESS-**

**.**

**RE-LOADING LOBO VILLAGE ZONE…**


	24. LOBO VILLAGE ZONE: Royal Pains, Cyber

**.**

**24. "…And Into the Water. -Wait, Water?"**

.

The sky was a warm red-orange with hints of purple and deep blue on the horizon, as the evening was pulling into night.

Sally carried Amy in her arms as her Sol energy gave her the speed to tear across the earth almost as quickly as Sonic could, while Bunnie used her jetpacks at the heels of her robotic feet to fly, carrying Julie-Su with her. They were back on the path toward Lobo Village Zone, where they hoped to find General Helmut of the Dingo Regime.

Amy smiled to her escort, "Heh, you know what Sally? It's funny that dingo mentioned your tail. I almost forgot you had it cropped; I was starting to think you were a chipmunk this whole time."

"Heh. Imagine that," Sally smiled back. But it was a short-lived smile.

As she ran, Sally had a certain glaze in her eyes, as though she were dreaming while wide awake. She could hear voices of the past, echoing back to her like ghosts…

"_I'm begging you, Antoine… Please! Cut it off!"_

"_I- I cannot! Please, mon Princess, don't make me."_

"_Please… It hurts so much… Do it… DO IT!"_

"…Sally?" peeped Amy, snapping her back into reality.

"Huh?"

"What's wrong? You look like you're hurt."

"Oh… It's nothing; I-I'm okay really."

"You better be," said Julie as she and Bunnie overheard their conversation, "'cause here comes Lobo Village. Everybody get your game faces on!"

…

**- LOBO VILLAGE ZONE -**

**.**

**Team Selected: Royal Pain (Sally and Amy)**

**.**

**- ACT I -**

The rolling highlands glistened thanks to the dying light of the sun, and millions of fireflies floated above the grasses to bring extra visibility to the landscape. This was a big help, of course, since there were spike traps, pit traps, and Badniks scattered all around. Returning to the sky were the **Buzz-Bombers**, and still driving through the dirt were **Motobugs**, **Yadorin**, and **Rollers**.** Hoppers** were still around, but thanks to the lack of pure sunlight, they would be harder to spot now.

As Sally took the lead down the road, she was quick to spot the first two Motobugs and whacked them down with her golden bo-staff. She was then rewarded with a line of Rings.

**Ring Count: 5**

Next came a log bridge, only this time the water was at an alarmingly high level; Sally's feet kicked up some water as she ran across. By now, two Buzz-Bombers were coming her way, so she jumped high into the air and spun her staff like the blades of a helicopter to reach them. She took down only one, and the second buzzed by. She couldn't reach the Rings hovering just above, so she had to run onward.

Two rolling hills, one left of Sally and one right, were coming her way- and with them came Rollers; armadillo-like Badniks ready to bowl over their enemies. Sally tagged Amy, knowing she had the better equipment for them.

"Here I come!" shouted Amy, as she swung her Piko-Piko Hammer at the two rolling balls. One by one they smashed on impact. Amy then ducked down and started to rev herself up for a Spin-Dash, except her hammer was now positioned behind her as if it were ready to smack her like a croquet ball. This was her new move set, the "Piko-Dash." As it hit her, she took off like a shot, rolling up the leftward hill and straight into two Ten Ring boxes.

**Ring Count: 25**

Amy then rolled back down the hill, into a small creek which wasn't there earlier in the day. It was a result of the recent dam breaking; water was starting to slowly take over the valley. Amy trotted as quickly as she could, but seeing as how she wasn't fast enough, she used her Piko-Dash again to spin-dash into a line of Rings along her path.

**Ring Count: 32**

"Tag me!" called out Sally, and she took the lead in a mad dash. She was careful to jump over a Yadorin that was hiding in the tall grass; she could make out its spikes thanks to the firefly glow. As she raced on, her feet kicked up water again; a small creek was forming on her path. She then decided to take the high ground, where Buzz-Bombers were swooping in and firing lasers. One of them shot her.

**Ring Count: 16**

"Augh!" she gasped as she fell backward. Luckily, Amy's healing abilities allowed her to keep at least half of her Rings. Still, Sally swung her staff at the two Buzz-Bombers, perhaps out of vengeance, and knocked them down.

Sally picked up the pace as she raced along the top of the sloping hill, running through a long line of Rings…

**Ring Count: 26**

…Then she came to a halt at the edge of the hill; a small platform made of earth was waiting for her to jump onto. It was followed by a second, then a third; they were hovering just over a large pitfall trap, which in the fading sunlight looked almost invisible.

"Let me!" called out Amy, as Sally landed on the other side of the trap. She tagged Amy, and Am used Piko-Dash to zoom downhill and through a boulder where a Ten-Ring box was waiting.

**Ring Count: 36**

The girls were now just a few feet away from the path taken once by the Tech-Team; they could see the steep hill they took to chase down Drago's war machine earlier that day, only now that rocky hill was full of Roller Badniks waiting to strike. Amy instead took a different route across a dampened log bridge, where she found another set of Rings.

**Ring Count: 42**

"Almost there," she muttered to herself, as she climbed out of the river. Se then Piko-Dashed up a hill, where three Hoppers were waiting to jump on her, but she was now too fast for them and failed in their attack. Amy then found herself looking upon a giant loop-de-loop made of the green earth, and Piko-Dashed herself into it. She spiraled around, then downward as the loop gave way to a slide, and then a sideway corkscrew. All the while, there were lots of Rings to collect.

**Ring Count: 57**

"Whee!" she cheered, as the pink hedgehog flew out of the obstacle course and right on top of an unsuspecting Hopper, who was crushed on impact. Seeing lights emulating from the village up ahead, she tagged Sally into play.

"Let's do this!" cheered the princess. Sally took off in a flash toward the city gates, which had been pulverized by Drago's machine. But now she found herself knee-deep in water, and unaware of the fact that the city was now inhabited by aquatic Badniks. Within just a few short seconds, her heels were nipped by a Chomper. "Ouch!"

**Ring Count: 28**

Somehow, those buildings that were still standing had their lamps on, giving light to an almost darkened village. But Sally knew that she was better off on higher ground, so she ran up a downed totem pole and leaped into the air, grabbing three Rings in mid-jump, and landed onto a straw roof.

**Ring Count: 31**

"Let me!" called out Amy, who was then tagged into play.

Knowing that a Piko-Dash wouldn't help her now, Amy scaled a taller totem pole to reach the second level of a flooded house. She crashed through its wall, and was rewarded with three Ten-Ring Boxes.

**Ring Count: 61**

"Okay, let's go for it!" she cheered. She then broke through the opposite wall of the building, and went jumping straight into the water, where a countless number of Chomper Badniks were waiting. In actuality, she was counting on their approach.

"TEAM-UP!"

**Ring Count: 11**

As the metal fishes swam close to them, Sally and Amy both grabbed onto the Piko-Piko Hammer. With Sally's Sol power, it started to glow bright gold, and lightning bolts surged through it as though it were now the Hammer of Thor. "PIKO-THUNDER!" they both roared, as they jumped in unison, spun once, and flung the electric-powered hammer into the water.

**FOOM!** A shockwave that could have rivaled a small meteorite's not only wiped out all of the aquatic Badniks of the Act, but it also temporarily vaporized all of the water. Sally then took the lead just quickly enough to zoom in a straight line toward the Goal.

…

**- ACT I CLEARED! -**

**Ring Count: 11**

**Bonus Points: 10,000- Level Up! Sally can now use "Double Jump"**

**Rank: A (Very Good!)**

…

**Bang-bang-bang!**

"Listen!" gasped Bunnie, as the girls stopped in their tracks to hear the distant gunfire. Carefully, they scaled up a crumbling building's walls to peer from the rooftop to see what was going on.

To their surprise, the gunfire was coming from Sir Geoffrey St. John, whose partner Hershey had already been netted by his target, Kage von Stryker. The huge half-robotic dingo was shielding Geoffrey's bullets with his iron right arm. In a flash, he jumped down on Geoffrey and knocked him out cold.

"Geoffrey. Hershey," frowned Sally. Julie hushed her before Kage could pick up their sound. Kage's ears wiggled for a moment, but he ignored it as mere wind blowing. He then pulled out from his utility belt a small Ring; as he flicked it, it grew into a large Warp Ring.

"Heh-heh. More toys for the boss to play with," he smirked, as he threw Geoffrey and Hershey into the Warp Ring's vortex right before it disappeared.

As the cyber dingo ran off, Bunnie and Julie were retraining Sally from going after him. "We could have saved them," frowned Sally.

"We need a plan first, Sally," said Julie-Su. "Me and Bunnie will chase him down until he's cornered, then we'll get the drop on him."

Bunnie clasped her steel paw in agreement. "Let's rock n' roll, partner."

…

**- ACT II -**

**Team Selected: Cyber Punks (Bunnie and Julie-Su)**

"It's about time we teach this guy a lesson," declared Julie-Su as she took the first steps into play.

Unlike last time, this Act was now almost completely underwater; Sally and Amy's effect on the environment was only temporary. The only dry surfaces for the team to jump onto were straw rooftops; the rest of the small buildings were submerged. And, there were still some anti-gravity platforms hovering about, as well as some aqueduct pipes to run across, but that was basically it for the surface areas. To reach full potential, the girls would have to go underwater, where the power-ups and Badniks were.

Julie ran across a solid stone surface before falling feet-first into deep water. The area was lit by some lamps from the drowned buildings, so there was some visibility amongst the blue void. Grass swayed like seaweed, and small air bubble packs were scattered all around. Julie moved at a fair pace underwater; she didn't need to swim to cross through the first line of Rings. Following after them was a small spike patch with three Rings above it. Julie had no problem jumping over them.

**Ring Count: 8**

Three Jaws swam out of nowhere toward Julie; they were long and torpedo-shaped, but also resembling sharks or barracudas. Julie hit one in mid-jump while the others swam by. Julie jumped, then double-jumped, and realized that by jumping multiple times, she could psuedo-swim. While she did this, she hovered toward another batch of Rings…

**Ring Count: 18**

…When suddenly, she started to feel weak.

**5… 4… 3…**

By diving down to the bottom, she managed to land into a patch of air, then with a deep "Gasp," she inhaled the biggest of the bubbles, thus saving herself from drowning.

"Tag me, sugah!"

Bunnie jumped into play, and felt the weight of her legs hold her on the bottom of the lake. Though she could still run, she wasn't as fast as Julie, but her rocket boosts in her feet proved useful; by holding down on her "jump" ability, she could glide through the water on her rocket power. This made her twice as fast as Julie, as far as swimming was concerned. But even Bunnie was vulnerable to drowning.

**5… 4… 3… 2… Gasp!**

She caught a big bubble in time, just as she power-swam through a group of Jaws'. Then, swimming upwards, she found solid ground on the surface. It was a stack of boulders forged into a stairway that led to a Ten-Ring Box.

**Ring Count: 28**

Bunnie then jumped onto a moving platform that lifted her up to an aqueduct pipe. There she spin-dashed along its run, grabbing more Rings along the way.

**Ring Count: 36**

Suddenly, three Jaws came flying by; apparently their propellers were equipped for both water and air. But they were no match for Bunnie; she punched one and jumped onto the other two. That's when she heard a "Ha-ha!" followed by Kage's silhouette running away in the distance. She followed him until she reached a dead-end, save for a pipeline that would lead her back into the water.

After crawling through a small tunnel, Bunnie walked by a wall when suddenly, a giant metallic eel popped out from a hole in the wall and bit her. It was a Badnik called Eelectron.

"Oh, my!" Bunnie gasped, as she lost all her rings.

She double-jumped and broke into her rocket-boost mode, swimming up into a circle of rings.

**Ring Count: 10**

She swam by drowned house after drowned house, while the grass on the bottom swayed with the current, when…

**5… 4… 3… Gasp!**

Bunnie was wise to stay near the lake's floor, where she found the next air bubble. But her luck was only going to get better, when she came to a collapsible wall. When she punched through it, it gave way to an Item Box.

**Acquired: Bubble Shield**

With this large bubble around her, she could not only save herself from a hit, but also breathe without fear of drowning. Others could use its "Bubble Bounce" effect, but for now Bunnie was focused on swimming. On she swam until she came to another surface platform, where she tagged Julie-Su into play.

"My turn!" cheered the cyborg she'chidna. First, she shot down some on-coming Jaws, then proceeded to jump over a pit trap to grab more rings.

**Ring Count: 13**

Julie jumped over two straw hut rooftops before they collapsed into the water, when Kage's shadow reappeared in the distance. He dashed into a corner; when Julie came to it, she found herself surrounded by SWATbots, the first she had see in a while. Shooting them down was a breeze though, and once the room was cleared a trap door opened for her to proceed to the next level.

Julie found herself in the middle of a very narrow crevice; she could only pass through it by wall-jumping, which she did. She was then rewarded by three more Rings on the top ledge…

**Ring Count: 16**

…but alas, she soon lost her Bubble Shield to an unexpected laser shot by more SWATbots. She chased them down and jumped on them before falling down a pit, back into the deep water.

"Tag me, sugah!" pleaded Bunnie, and came back into play.

As Bunnie started to power-swim, a school of Mini-Chompers was headed her way; while clustered, they figured they had safety in numbers. Bunnie hit a few, but two managed to latch onto her leg, and she was slowly starting to lose her Rings. By the time she finally spun to shake them off, her ring count was at…

**Ring Count: 11**

But that was the least of her problems…

5… 4… 3… 2… 1…

Bunnie had to make haste for another patch of air bubbles, but there was none to be found. Fortunately for her, another collapsible wall gave way to an apparent secret passageway. When she swam through it, she lost most of her air time, but managed to find an Item Box that she desperately needed.

**Acquired: Bubble Shield**

"Alright!" she cheered, as the air shield surrounded her in bubble form.

Bunnie power-swam on, just missing getting bitten by another hidden Eelectron. Two more schools of Mini-Chompers passed her by; she was quick to dodge them on her way across the lake.

When at last she came to the surface, Bunnie tagged in Julie-Su, and the she'chidna jumped onto a moving platform that would take her to another aqueduct pipe. Only, this one was collapsing under her feet, so she had to spin-dash across before reaching safety. There were Rings lined up long the way as well.

**Ring Count: 21**

She could see Kage's shadow in the distance once again, but just missed catching up to him while a trio of SWATbots were jumping into her path. As she shot down two, the third shot down her Bubble Shield before meeting its end at her hands.

Suddenly, a three-story building in the distance collapsed and crumbled into the lake, forming a new playing field. There, as she headed straight for it, Hoppers jumped onto each available rock. She shot down the first in order to jump onto the ledge, then jumped onto the second one before the Hopper could counter-jump. Then, just as she jumped for the third rock, a SWATbot came out of nowhere and knocked the Hopper off its rock, making Julie jump right into it.

**Ring Count: 0-5**

"Augh!" shouted Julie in pain, as she scrambled to get only five rings. She jumped back up onto the second rock and shot down the SWATbot. Thinking that another would knock over the fourth Hopper, she stood her ground and shot the Badnik down. When she reached the fourth rock, this one highest of them all, she found herself looking down a makeshift waterslide. She had no choice but to slide down it, back into the deep lake.

"Yee-haw!" cheered Bunnie, as she was tagged into play. Immediately she kicked up her heels and boosted herself across the pond in a power-swim. She could see the Goal Post up ahead, but decoded to grab as many Rings as she could before getting there. It was the least she could do.

**Ring Count: 5… 8… 12… 18**

**5… 4… 3…**

And just like that, it was all over.

.

**- ACT II CLEARED! -**

**Ring Count: 18**

**Bonus Points: 0**

**Rank: C (Impressive)**

.

Taking a deep breath, the girls popped up out of the water and quickly climbed up a boulder to dry land. There, they could have sworn they saw Kage standing by, only he was now nowhere to be seen.

"…Huh. Where'd he go?" asked Bunnie as she glanced around for her enemy. "He was here a minute ago." As she said this, Amy and Julie were found running in circles, chasing the same shadows that the cyber rabbit was.

"Ha-ha-ha! Look alive, ladies!" boomed an unpleasant voice up ahead, followed by a shriek from Princess Sally: "Eeek!"

Bunnie, Amy and Julie looked upward, seeing that their foe Kage Von Striker was standing atop a faltering building, with Sally's arm in his metallic grasp. "Sally!" gasped Bunnie.

"Let 'er go!" shouted Julie, while Amy pulled out her Piko Hammer.

Kage held a gun to Sally's throat; "Not likely," he gloated. "She's coming with me, back to the Labyrinth Kingdom where I'm sure to a promotion in the Dark Legion's elite force!"

Sally tried kicking his leg, but it was as stiff as a pole. "Watch it princess," hissed the half-metallic dingo, "or I'll shear off your head the way that coyote sheared off your tail."

With that, Sally gasped in horror. "How did you…?"

"Ha! You really didn't think there were cameras in that lab?" He pulled her closer so that he could whisper in her ear: "We saw everything; and we even kept your pretty little tail as a souvenir." This made her skin crawl.

"Alright, that's enough!" yelled Bunnie with a clasped metal hand. "You wanna fight, tough guy? Bring it on!"

He sneered at the cyber-rabbit, but then he threw his captive in a small pool in the center of the ruined building, followed by a net which would keep her from escaping. He then pulled out a second pistol; the fight was on.

.

**- MINI-BOSS BATTLE: vs. KAGE VON STRYKER -**

**Song: Mini-Boss Theme from "Sonic 3 and Knuckles," remixed**

The girls took cover behind a small wall, their only shield against Kage's barrage of laser shots. When he finished shooting, Julie took control and aimed her pistol at him. He was quick to dodge her attack with his impenetrable silver left arm.

Kage jumped across a floating rock, then onto another, to get closer to his quarry. He then fired two more shots at the girls; they had to jump away in order to save themselves.

Bunnie took control and threw out her robot fist, extending it to a great length and managed to punch Kage in the face once. He then recoiled and jumped away, back to his first firing spot. Bunnie tried to long-range punch again, but missed the second time. Kage then fired his guns at her, and hit her.

**Ring Count: 0**

"Ouch!" squeaked Bunnie, as she and Julie scrambled for the rings as they flew at all sides. They only managed to catch four.

**Ring Count: 4**

"I got him!" said Julie as she took the lead and started firing her gun. She managed to hit him once, as he bounced around to the leftmost rock surface. Two hits down.

Kage then surprised them with a new move, one similar to Bunnie's. His metallic left arm's claws stretched out, then he tossed them as though they were daggers. He hit Bunnie, but no Rings were lost since Julie-Su was in control. A new set of claws then emerged from his metal hand. He tried the trick again, but Julie and Bunnie ducked out of the way.

"Let me get 'im," said Bunnie as she took control. Kage jumped around from rock to rock again, careful not to fall into the deep water, and she did her long-arm punch again. She hit his legs, and he took no damage. But she was quick to try again, and hit his face on her second try. Three hits down.

"We gotta get closer," said Julie while Bunnie was still in the lead. Bunnie then dared to jump onto the leftmost rock that Kage had settled on before, and tried her long-range attack again. This made her defenseless, so when he blocked her attack with his invincible arm, she was risking much. Kage fired his gun and shot her square in the chest.

**Ring Count: 0**

"He's mine!" shouted Julie as she jumped in, replacing Bunnie as the lead character. Fearlessly she jumped onto the next floating rock, closer toward Kage, and fired her gun rapidly. He blocked the first two shots, but as he tried to attack he let his guard down. Her lasers managed to hit him three times in a row, and he fell onto his back in defeat.

.

**- MISSION: CLEARED! -**

"Yee-haw! Put 'er there, partner!"

"We sure showed him."

.

Kage's red eye opened; though he was dazed, he still wanted to keep fighting. But as he struggled to his feet, a long and dark shadow loomed over him. He looked upward, and saw that the shadow belonged to General Helmut.

"Kage," growled the general. "At last, justice can be served."

The cyber dingo then gave him a wily smirk, as he pulled out a small ring from his utility belt. "Sorry, Pops; we'll pick up the family reunion some other time." Then he flicked it into the air, activating the Warp Ring.

"Kage! No!" roared Helmut angrily, but he wasn't quick enough to stop his son from jumping through the vortex. As the Warp Ring disappeared, the general slammed his fist into the ground in a fit of rage. "RAWWW! …I was so close…" Then his ears picked up the sound of a girl's cries: "Sally! Are you okay!" It was coming from Amy; all at once, the general's attention switched from anger to concern.

"Hang on, Sally!" said a concerned Amy, as she and the other girls cut through the net that Sally was trapped in.

"Thanks girls," she smiled softly. "I'm okay now."

"No prob, Sal; we gal-pals stick together," winked Bunnie.

As they helped Sally to her feet, Amy couldn't help but ask, "Sally, what was Kage talking about? I mean, about your tail? I thought you said you had it cropped off."

Feeling like she had no other choice, Sally took a deep breath and confessed, "I did get it cropped off… but I didn't have much choice. It was stuck… in a trap." She paused to collect her thoughts while the others frowned with remorse, none more so than Amy.

"Sally, I…" she tried to apologize, but Sally stopped her.

"No, Amy, it's alright. You guys deserve to know the whole truth… But first things first." As she said this, she glanced upward at Helmut, who was standing by and overhearing their conversation. "You have some friends of ours trapped at your base, general."

The proud dingo general gave the princess a solemn nod. "So my men have told me." He then turned to his men and said, "We're returning to base! And when we get there, we'll release our prisoners."

"Release the echidna! But sir-" a dingo soldier protested.

"These ladies have proven their trust," Helmut interrupted. "It's only fair we give them a chance."

"Yes, sir," frowned the soldier, who was still distrustful of Knuckles.

The whole gang then began their trek back to the Dingo Regime camp, and there, Sally would have to tell her sad tale… about her tail.

**.**

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	25. The Tale of a Tail

.

**25: "The Tale of a Tail"**

.

**Robotropolis, six months earlier.**

_This was her first month outside of her kingdom, and already Princess Sally was in over her head._

_Her faction of Freedom Fighters hailed in Knothole Village, a hideout hidden within the deep temperate forests of Acorn Kingdom. But that didn't stop Robotnik's forces from sniffing them out, and eventually a small group of Freedom Fighters were captured, taken to Robotropolis for questioning and ultimately for "Roboticizing."_

_The princess would not take this sitting down._

_She rounded up her best and most trusted team members: Antoine D'Coolette, her personal bodyguard and skilled swordsman; Rotor Walrus, her team's engineer; Nicole the Lynx, her best friend and gifted mage; Rob O' the Hedge, a talented archer; and Hamlin the Pig, who proved to be quite the muscleman. _

_Together, they would execute a go-for-broke rescue mission by infiltrating one of the main robotic factories of Robotropolis, and sneak in undetected. For this sneaky operation, Nicole and Rotor came most handy. Rotor provided the team with vehicles that fit perfectly with the Badniks, while Nicole used the magic given to her by the mystical All-Seeing Eye to warp the frequencies of spy cameras and patrol-bots. Rob also provided the team with dark hooded cloaks to use as cover for when they were on foot._

_All went according to plan… except one major flaw: none of them knew their way around the city, let alone the factories. Saving their captive friends was like finding a needle in a giant metallic haystack. Nicole was the only one with a map of the city, locked in her compact computer; for this reason, Sally was always by her side to direct the rest of the team. They were all equipped with radio headphones to stay connected in case they were separated, which would be frequent due to their constant running about. All in all, it was quite the workout just to get to the factory where their friends were suspected to be kept prisoner in._

_Hamlin pried the main gate open with his bare hands, and once it cracked Rob shot down the spy cameras dangling from the ceilings. The team then whisked down the halls like shadows in the night, careful not to let any Badnik or SWATbot see them despite their black cloaks._

_They stopped at a corner where an elevator door was located within the next hall. Sally paused to tuck in her long bushy tail, the one thing that her cloak couldn't hide._

"_I've located the main rooms of the Roboticizers," whispered Nicole. "They're three levels below us."_

"_Below?" questioned Sally softly. "I thought they'd be at the top somewhere. And we're still on the ground level."_

_Nicole nodded, "I'm guessing Robotnik is keeping those rooms top secret, even to his own… But here's the big problem, Sally: there's a lot of power generating from those rooms. I suspect it's a security system, one too powerful for me to crack."_

"_Then let's bust it wide open," suggested Hamlin. "Rotor, you got those grenades handy?"_

"_Check," replied the walrus in the back of the line._

"_Hold on," whispered the princess. "We should only use those for a last resort; we've come this far without causing much fuss."_

"_No, but we did come 'ere to cause a fuss though, did we not?" asked Rob in his thick English accent._

"_Rob's right," nodded Hamlin, "I think now's the time we take this mission to the next level."_

"…_Alright," said Sally hesitantly. "Rob, you lead us in; Hamlin, you follow him, and Antoine you cover them."_

"_Oui, princess."_

"_Nicole, you and me will cover the back."_

"_Yes, Sally."_

"_Okay… We're going in."_

_._

_Hamlin pried open an elevator door, at a time when the actual elevator chamber was settled on a higher level of the building. One by one, the animals grabbed ahold of the cable wire and scaled downward toward the lowest level of the shaft. Once they hit rock bottom, Rotor and Hamlin pried open the gate together, letting the others through before closing the doors behind them._

_The hallway was very dark and blue in tone, much like most of the factory's interior. The sound of clanging footsteps caused the team to duck into a corner. There they waited for the SWATbot patrollers to walk past them. Then they heard the sound of a door cracking open in the distance, followed by a feminine voice screaming:_

"_Please! …I know nothing about any resistance! I'm just a common mongoose, I swear! …No, no please, I beg you! Don't! Do-o-on't…!"_

_Silence fell as the distant doorway fell shut. The group paused to collect their thoughts._

"_I take it the Roboticizer's that a-way," guessed Rob as he pointed to the direction in which the screams came._

_Sally tucked her large squirrely tail under her black garment while saying, "We may have just one shot at this. Nicole, I want you to sneak up there and try your magic on that door lock. Hamlin, you go with her, and if she can't open it…"_

"_Right, we blow it up. After you, Nicole."_

_The lynx and the pig crawled against the wall to avoid detection, while the rest of the team waited in hiding. Rob looked left and right, up and down for any spy cameras, and was surprised to find none._

"_I don't like this," whispered the teal hedgehog._

"_What don't you like," asked Antoine, "the fact zat we're in ze heart of Robotropolis, or ze fact zat we're in a foot of a Roboticizer?"_

"_It just seems too easy. Like they're expecting us to-"_

_**BOOM!**_

"_There goes Hamlin," muttered Sally. She jumped to her feet. "Let's go! Now!"_

_The heroes dashed down the hall and through a hole in the wall courtesy of Hamlin's grenade. They met up with the pig who seemed proud of himself, while a dazed Nicole looked on. "Couldn't help yourself, could you?" she frowned at him, dusting ash from her purple dress._

_Sally and the others took a moment to stare at the room which they would forever remember as a place of death. There were three glass chambers in the center of the room, one of which was occupied by a female mongoose, now completely robotic. Standing in front of her were two echidnas- Legionnaires- who forced the girl into her chamber just moments ago._

_One of the hooded echidnas opened the hatch of the mongoose girl's chamber and seemed to pat the back of her head before he was blindsided by Rotor's fist. As the echidna fell unconscious, Rotor cradled the mongoose's body in his bulky blue arms._

"_Sally… Do you know this girl?"_

_The princess stared at the lifeless creature. "No, but she's probably from our kingdom. We'll take her back to Knothole to see if we can somehow undo the spell. But we need to keep looking for the others!"_

"_Sally, look." Nicole urged the princess to come running to the computer monitors on the leftmost wall. The lynx pointed to a small icon on the computer. "This is where we are… And there are two other rooms that look just like this one. The one in the center looks occupied."_

"_That's it then. Come on, team! And hurry, they're probably onto us now!"_

_As the team fled the room, the two echidnas were quick to regain consciousness. One of them pulled out a gun, when the other said, "Don't bother. I put a tracking device on the mongoose girl. Even if they get as far as Acorn Kingdom, we can track them down."_

_._

_Rob shot down SWATbots that were running down the hall, while Antoine cut through those that came from behind the team. As the heroes ran closer and closer to their destination, they almost slowed to a complete halt when their eyes caught a glimpse of another hallway, one that clearly had barred doors._

"_Guys!" gasped Sally as she switched her direction to the dungeon-like hall. She was elated to see that some of her captive friends were still alive, and still flesh and blood, waiting for their turn to be Roboticized. As she passed their barred gates, she greeted them with hugs: "Penelope Platypus! Arlo Armadillo! Larry Lynx!"_

_Then the she-squirrel found a cell containing the eldest of prisoners. "…Rosie, thank God you're alive!"_

_The elderly woodchuck clasped Sally's hand. "My dear Sally, you've grown so much since I last saw you."_

"_Where are Tommy Turtle? Mr. Cat? Fiona Fox?"_

"…_I'm sorry Sally, they've been taken away. …Bunnie too; they just took her."_

"_Where? Which way did they go?"_

"_That way," Rosie pointed left, toward the eastern hallway. "Sally dear, it's too dangerous for you to-"_

"_It's okay Rosie, I know what I'm doing… Rob!"_

"_Princess."_

"_Use your dagger to pick these locks. Rotor, you can help with your buzz-saw."_

"_As you like it."_

_The two hired hands worked their way through the bars while the rest of the team raced on toward the second robot room._

_._

"_You won't get away with this, y'all hear me?" roared a defiant Bunnie Rabbot, as the glass casing of the Roboticizer descended upon her. Observing her transformation were two more Legionnaires, who ignored her rants. _

_Even as her voice was blocked off by the glass case, Bunnie kept on ranting as she tried punching the thick glass. "Jest wait 'till mah friends git here, y'all be sorry!"_

"_Blah-blah-blah, 'you fiends,' blah-blah," mocked one hooded echidna as he flicked a switch._

_From the heart of Robotnik's main lair, the red Sol Emerald warmed up in a halo of crimson light. This activated the Roboticizer in which Bunnie was cased. A dark energy surrounded her, scaring her stiff. As her body froze, she felt the warmth of her legs and arms leave her._

_But then, __**BOOM!**_

_The doors were busted wide open by an explosion, startling the Legionnaires. As the heroes charged in, Nicole once again criticized Hamlin; "You could at least wait for me to cover my ears before you blow a door down."_

_Sally gasped at the sight of the functioning machine. "…Antoine! Hit it!"_

"_As you wish, mon princess!" The coyote leaped forward, swinging his cutlass, and chopped the glass casing to ribbon. Meanwhile, Hamlin and Sally drop-kicked the Legionnaires before they had a chance to retaliate. _

_The Roboticizer short-circuited, as electric bolts shot through the air and steam poured out of the interior. Antoine fanned the steam away from his face before venturing inside the machine, and was surprised to find a Bunnie with metallic legs and left arm._

"_Mon dior…" he muttered; he had never seen such a sight, a half-robotic woman. He was also overpowered by her beauty, for this was the first time he had actually seen Sally's out-of-palace friend. "Um… uh… Ma'am moiselle?" he chirped._

_Bunnie, shocked by the incident, had closed her eyes and was seemingly knocked unconscious. But once she heard Antoine's voice, her right ear perked up and her eyes fluttered open. Her left ear, however, remained drooped; perhaps it was a result of her trauma._

"_Ugh… huh? …W-where am Ah?" She went to feel her forehead with her left hand, only to feel cold steel. Seeing her new clawed paw, she let out a loud gasp, "Augh!"_

"_Augh!" echoed Antoine in surprise. "Is okay, is okay! I'm a friend! My name is Antoine D'Coolette; I believe you know ze princess Sally, yes?"_

"…_Oh, mah stars!" Bunnie suddenly chirped, instantly taken by his French accent. She then gave him a warm smile; "Did you jest save mah life?"_

"_Uh, well… I cannot take all ze credit."_

"_Bless yer lil' heart!" she flung both her arms around him and gave him a small peck on the cheek. "Mah hero!"_

"_Ehh..heh-heh-heh," he giggled, blushing fiercely. It was safe to say that his long-time crush on Princess Sally was now officially over._

"_Bunnie? Is that you?" gasped Sally as she approached the Roboticizer chamber._

_As Antoine helped her out of the chamber, Bunnie replied, "Ah guess so. Y'all came a lil' late, but Ah knew you'd come."_

"_Don't worry," promised a frowning Sally, "I'll get you back to normal as soon as-"_

"_Ah know, Sally, Ah know. We gotta skidaddle." Bunnie took one step, and already she started to wobble, unsure of her new feet._

_Antoine took Bunnie's flurry hand and said, "You look tired. May I escort you, mon cherie?"_

"_Oh mah," blushed the yellow rabbit. "Ah do believe you n' me are gonna git along jest fahn."_

_._

_The team reunited with Rob, Rotor and the new escapees, and together they all ran like crazy down the hallway. Hamlin scooped up the lifeless Metal-Mina and fell to the back of the line, while Rob stayed in the back just to shoot down SWATbots that were coming from behind._

_Alarms were ringing throughout the factory, and every Badnik and SWATbot present was alerted to the escapees. Soon enough, they were coming from all sides. Luckily, Sally had her own laser gun handy for just this kind of situation, and shot down one robot guard after another. Nicole stunned oncoming guards with just a wave of her magic hand, and even escapees Arlo and Penelope took up arms by picking up dropped lasers from SWATbots and fired away at Badniks._

"_The elevator shaft! Hurry!" commanded Sally._

_As the team raced toward the elevator, the princess felt a sharp pain in her tail. A SWATbot's laser hit it, stinging her. "Augh, dang it!" she cursed, shooting back at the robot._

_A Motorbug came speeding toward Antoine, but as he was preparing to swipe it, Bunnie punched it with her new metallic fist. It was flattened instantly. "Wow!" cheered the rabbit as she flexed her new muscles, "Ah think Ah like this!"_

"_Nicole, the elevator!" Sally barked as the team made it to their escape route._

_The mystic lynx put her paw on the elevator's control panel, but then frowned, "It's jammed Sally. They must have shut it down."_

"_There should be a fire escape somewhere," alerted Rotor._

"_Hold on, let me check the map," replied Nicole as she whipped out her compact computer._

_Lasers came shooting at them; as Sally and Rob fired back, the teal hedgehog insisted, "Check it a bit faster, will you?"_

"_This way, left!" pointed Nicole, and off they ran._

_Down the hallway, Rosie was starting to slow down. Sally grabbed her arm and pulled her forward. "Come on, Rosie, I'm not losing you again!"_

"_Sally dear, save yourself," panted the old woodchuck._

"_Never."_

_As Rob ran out of arrows to shoot, he resorted to using his bow as a staff and swatted two Buzz Bombers out of the air._

_Nicole then noticed that the hallway was starting to shrink; doors were sliding from the walls and shutting together quickly. "They're locking the hall down. Faster, everyone!"_

_Bunnie was now running wildly on her new legs; she grabbed onto Antoine, and with Arlo (rolled up in a ball), took off in a flash through the shutting doors. Hamlin and Rotor were slow, but were pulled along by Rob and Penelope. Larry was so frightened by the event that he was running on sheer adrenalin, almost keeping up with the fleet-footed escapees. _

_Last in line were Sally and Rosie; Sally could have easily cleared the hallway but was careful not to let go of her elderly friend. As the last set of doors came sliding from the walls, Sally scooped up the woodchuck and made a daring leap for safety._

_**-SLAM!-**_

_._

_The room fell silent shortly after the gates slammed shut; the team was lying on its sides, clearly winded. Sally was sitting up with her back against the closed doors, also weakened. But then she tried to get up._

"_Oof!" she yelped, feeling a sudden pull on her back as she fell back onto her rear. That's when the pain finally hit, like a bolt of lightning up her spine. "…aaaA__**AAAAUUUUUGH**__!"_

"_P-princess!" gasped a horrified Antoine, who quickly ran to her side. "Princess Sally? What is wrong!"_

_Her hand brushed her backside, and could feel the steel of the door. "ugh…. my tail… my damned tail…!" was all she could muster as tears flooded her eyes._

_Antoine and Nicole both looked behind her, and were stunned to see that the princess' long bushy tail had been caught within the door's clasp. The bone in her tail was severed, though there was no blood- not yet, anyway. It all happened so fat that she didn't even feel the impact of the gate's slam. But there it was, her tail completely sealed within the gate. She was helplessly pinned to it._

"_Mon dior… Mon dior!" panicked Antoine. "What do we do? Nicole? What do we-"_

"_Antoine, calm down!" Nicole said sternly. She then knelt down beside Sally, who was looking pale in the face. "Sally… Don't worry, we can fix this. Give me your Sol Emerald; I can heal the wound."_

"_No… It's too late," Sally gulped weakly. "…Those soldiers will be here soon; you all need to run."_

"_Not without you," the she- lynx insisted._

_Sally looked up into her friend's warm green eyes, and nodded. "…Antoine. Cut it off."_

"_Wh-wh-what!" jumped the coyote in surprise._

"_Hurry," replied Sally, her eyes pleading along with her voice. "Just take your sword and… ch-chop it off. Real quickly." There was a long pause before she started to plea: "I'm begging you, Antoine! Please… cut it off!"_

"_I… I cannot." He shook his head rapidly. "Please, mon princess, don't make me."_

_Tears were now pouring from her eyes. "Please… It hurts so much. Do it… DO IT!"_

"_I'll do it," Hamlin insisted, while still holding the fully-metal body of Mina. "Gimmie that sword."_

"_No," said Rob, "I can do it. I'll make it quick and clean-like. Give it here, Sir Antoine."_

"_Someone better do it," growled Sally, clearly losing her cool as her boot tapped the floor._

"…_Alright, alright. Huph… I'll do it," gulped a nervous Antoine._

_Bunnie couldn't watch; she buried her face in Rotor's chest. The escapees also looked away, as did Rob out of respect for the pained princess._

_Sally passed on her purple Sol emerald from her chest to Nicole's hands, as she rolled up part of her vest into her mouth to bite down on it. She then bowed her head, Nicole cradled it, and pinched her eyes shut as she braced for the worst._

_Antoine lined up his cutlass to the spot of Sally's tail that was best fit to cut through. He took a few deep breaths… then…_

_**Swipe!**_

"_Uuuugh!" cringed the princess, grinding her teeth into her cloth._

"_In the name of balance and chaos, __**HEAL**__!" shouted Nicole quickly._

_A small purple light flared from the emerald, and in that flash, Sally's tail wound was sealed. With the pain lifted, Sally opened her eyes and looked behind her shoulder, as far back as she could. She brushed her hand down her back, and knew that her tail was now a fluffy stump._

_She sighed deeply. "…Thanks, you two."_

_Nicole smiled, "Thank Antoine later; he just fainted."_

_The girls giggled softly at Antoine's sleeping body, while Hamlin made a face. "I'm not carrying him."_

_._

"…_**Sol Emerald detected,"**__ purred the deep voice of Robotnik's main computer, dubbed A.D.A.M._

_Great. Not only was the factory on lockdown, but now the robot patrol teams were aware of the presence of another Sol Emerald. The Freedom Fighters were starting to feel defeated, even though they were in the room which had the fire escape._

_Sally was given a few minutes to recover from her shock, as well as adjust to standing upright without the support of a large tail. Seeing that she was visibly shaking, Rob picked her up and cradled her. "I think it's best you give your legs a rest, princess," he insisted._

"_I can still run," she replied with a softened tone of defiance. But she was at a loss as the hedgehog carried her to the stairway._

_Hamlin kicked the door open, still cradling Metal-Mina. Rotor carried Rosie in his own arms, while the rest of the team (save Sally) was settled on climbing the staircase on foot. Nicole waved her arms to block the doorways which SWATbots were trying to break through as they ran up and up the winding staircase._

_Upon reaching the ground level's door, Arlo and Penelope were ready with their "borrowed" laser guns. They kicked the door open and fired away at SWATbots and Badniks awaiting them on the other side of the door. The green armadillo then suddenly took a hit in the chest by a laser, followed by Penelope receiving a similar wound on her hip._

_As they fell, Sally jumped to her feet and sprayed lasers from her gun more furiously than ever. Larry carefully pulled Penelope and Arlo back into the stairwell before he and Hamlin pulled the door shut._

"_We're trapped," panted Larry. "They've got us surrounded out there, and we're running out of ammo."_

_Nicole, meanwhile, was tending to the wounds of her fallen friends by the power of her Sol Emerald. She then turned to Sally with a frown; "They know we have this emerald, Sally, and they'll kill us if it means getting to it." Penelope and Arlo were then healed, but also looked as dismayed as Nicole._

_The she-squirrel paused to collect her thoughts, while Hamlin stated, "We still have some small grenades left. We can use them as a cover while we make it to the front door."_

"…_No. Maybe if I surrender myself, they'll let the rest of you go."_

"_Sally," frowned Nicole, "you're not thinking clearly."_

"_But if I barter the emerald-"_

"_You'll do no such thing, my friend." Nicole then picked up Sally and put her back into Rob's arms. She then told the hedgehog firmly, "Make sure nothing happens to her." She then placed the emerald into Sally's chest, where it would remain safely hidden. She also handed her compact computer over to Rotor; "Use this to find your escape pods."_

"_Nicole, what are you doing?" questioned the confused princess. "…Nicole?"_

_The she- lynx then pushed the door wide open, and summoned a barrage of electric energy from her paws, stunning the robots that were ready to shoot their lasers._

"_Now, everyone! Head for the garage where Rotor's vehicles are! I'll handle these robots."_

"_Nicole, don't!" pleaded Sally. "We need to stick together!"_

_Nicole quietly looked to Rob, who gave her a knowing nod._

"_Come with me, princess," said the teal hedgehog softly as he led the team down the narrow hall._

"_No… No, I'm not leaving her! Nicole!" Sally desperately called out, but by then the she-lynx was already making a b-line to a different hallway, one where she coaxed the robot patrol team to follow while they were still under her spell._

_Bunnie took a flying leap and kicked down the main door of the factory, with the rest of the team following close behind. Only Sally looked back, hoping against hope that Nicole could still be saved._

_._

_Minutes later, the team found the garage in which their Badnik-shaped vehicles were parked. This was mostly thanks to Rotor's use of Nicole's computer map. Unfortunately, they were pursued mercilessly by Badniks and SWATbots alike. But a third party was flying their way also; they appeared to be Robians, fully-metallic versions of animals after being Roboticized. But if one were to look at them more closely, it would have been clear that these were not Robians at all; they were robotic Doppelgangers, designed by Robotnik as part of his most top secret plan against his greatest enemies. He wasn't planning on letting them loose so soon, but with a Sol Emerald to be captured, he wasn't going to take any chances._

"_Everybody in?" asked Rotor, while the others climbed aboard his false Badnik tank. _

"_Oui! Gun it!" shouted Antoine._

_The psuedo-Motorbug burned rubber on its way out of the garage, but the Doppelgangers were coming at them like jet-powered rockets._

_Now was the time for Hamlin to unleash the last of his grenades. As he lit them up, he huffed, "This one's for Nicole." Then they were thrown._

_**BA-BOOM!**_

_Rotor's Motorbug-tank left fire and shredded metal in its wake, like a bat out of hell. At full throttle, it was hopeless for any of Robotnik's scouts to keep up with; the team was safe._

_While it should have been a time for the heroes to relax and be thankful for their success, Sally buried her head on Rob's chest while he cradled her in his lap. She was truly shaken at this point: first, her once long and bushy tail was no more; secondly, she had just left a dear friend behind. And third, she now had a lifeless Metal-Mina and a cyborg Bunnie, both of whom were in need of a Healer's touch._

"…_Princess? Are you alright?" asked Rob softly._

_She sighed, "I just wish she were with us…"_

"_We'll get her back, and soon. We'll come up with a new plan."_

"_We need more than that," she whispered as she started to let her fatigue get the better of her. "…We need more warriors. We need the Felidae Kingdom, Canus, Avian, all of them on our side. …I'll search the ends of the world if I have to, but as long as we get all the help we can get, then we might have some hope left."_

"_Sounds like a plan… Why don't you get a bit of rest first? You look like you're in need of it."_

_Sally's eyes drifted, gazing upon the faces of her fellow rescuers and her grateful allies. Their pleasant faces made her heart light up with joy, if only for a few short seconds. Then the fatigue took over, and she bowed her head. A single tear fell from her eye as she drifted off to sleep._

.

"…The next thing I remember," said Sally as she concluded her story in the present time, "I was back in Knothole."

It was evening in the Dingo Regime camp; Sally was sitting by a campfire with her new allies the Dingoes, as well as her friends Bunnie, Julie-Su, Am Rose, and now Shadow and Knuckles who had been freed from their prison. They were all awed by the story; even Bunnie, who was Sally's one and only witness to the tale.

"Wow," awed Amy. "What a story. That explains Mina, Bunnie, and how Nicole became enslaved."

"Yes," nodded Julie-Su, who had also just heard the tale for the first time. "But whatever became of Hamlin, Rob and the others?"

Sally explained, "They stayed in Knothole for a while, but then they felt it was best to report most of our tale to the king and queen. Only then did my parents send our reinforcements for our rebels. And if I remember correctly, both Hamlin and Rob were promoted to knighthood in the royal court. And Larry, Penelope and Arlo became royal advisors."

"Good for them," nodded Amy.

"Yeah," sighed Sally, "but our adventuring days were far from over. It was only when things started to look really bad that I decided to use m Sol emerald to call out for help. That's when you guys showed up."

"Still," frowned Bunnie, "it is a shame about that tail o' yours, Sally girl. Too bad we'll never see it again."

Sally's eyes sunk, as she remembered what Kage said about the Dark Legion keeping it as a souvenir. "I honestly hope you're right," she whispered.

.

**Onyx Temple Zone**, same time.

Ixus Mammoth was up to his neck in a steaming hot spring, still recovering from being frozen for centuries and looking very relaxed. He was now fully conscious, and quickly becoming aware of his whereabouts and new allies. As Lien-Da walked into his room, she saw that he wasn't alone; young Rutan was with him, using his clear Sol Emerald as a toy.

The mammoth chuckled while the youngster turned steam bubbles into snowflakes. "Heh-heh-heh… Very good, you're a fast learner young one. Now, try to imagine something else."

Rutan closed his eyes, and suddenly one steam bubble morphed into a small rainbow before it faded away.

"Excellent," nodded the mammoth, before noticing Line-Da's presence. "Ah, you must be Mistress Lien-Da. Pleasure meeting you, m'lady."

"Forgive me sire," she smiled, "I hope I didn't disturb you."

"Not at all; I was just getting acquainted with this youngster here. I've not seen so much potential in a long time. He would make a fine pupil."

Lien-Da smiled proudly. "That's my boy. I always knew he was special."

Ixus Mammoth then said, "I've already met your partner, Finitevus. He tells me that he has taken a great interest in the Sol Emeralds and wants me to help him better understand them."

"Of course; who better to ask advice from than the one who mastered their power a millennia ago?"

"Hmm… And yet, something tells me that there's more to it than that," smirked the ultra-smart mammoth. "I'm sure you're aware of m history; how I wasn't exactly… popular in my day."

"Believe me sir, we echidnas can relate. Our people have been outcasts for as long as I can remember. We're due for some justice."

"I see… Well then, I shall be expecting my own profit from this venture; knowledge like mine shouldn't come cheap."

Lien-Da grinned. "I think we can arrange something for you, sire… There's this great kingdom near ours called Robotropolis. It's nowhere as big as your former kingdom, but I promise you it's the richest in the world."

"And you have no interest in it yourself?"

"Hardly; all I want is for my son to be ruler of all echidna-kind. And for our people to live in peace, of course."

"Of course," echoed the ancient one, sensing her sarcasm. He then requested, "Tell me more about this Robotropolis."

"The ruler there is an ally of ours, but he's hardly tolerable. We only need him for a short while, until we can get his Sol Emerald. Once we overthrow him, his kingdom is all yours."

"Hmm," purred Ixus again, smiling contently. "It will be nice to be back in power again, just like the good old days… However."

"Sire?"

"I'm not sure I'm quite ready for the outside world just yet. So much has changed; I need to learn more about modern society, how to fit in. I may even have to change my style altogether. You understand, yes?"

"Oh, absolutely. By all means, do as you will my liege."

"Yes… So, where is this Finitevus of yours?"

"In his new lab, studying his latest project…"

.

While Kage Von Stryker was resting within a green liquid-filled capsule, his master, Dr. Finitevus, watched his progress. He was about to insert more robotic parts to the dingo traitor, when a computer monitor flashed on nearby.

"Finitevus," said the voice of Robotnik, as his face appeared on screen.

Taken by surprise, the albino echidna gasped. "M-Master Robotnik! I… I wasn't expecting you at such a late hour, sire."

"Indeed. I'm well aware of your latest failure." As he said this, Robotnik's red eyes glanced at the sleeping Kage.

"Ah, but he did succeed in capturing two soldiers of the Acorn Army, my lord. They are yours to do with as you please."

"Already done. But Stryker failed to kidnap the princess, and she's far more valuable."

Finitevus assured him, "I'm glad to see how concerned you are, Master. Please, allow me to add his newest installments, then he should-"

"No. Allow _me_ to improve him_ for_ you."

Suddenly, a blue light came upon Kage as he slept. Finitevus was helpless in stopping Robotnik's teleportation device from making Kage disappear completely from sight. The albino knew what this meant, for he had seen it before: Kage was on his way to be fully Roboticized.

"Master Robotnik!" he protested, showing anger for once. "He was _my_ test subject; I was about to see how far I could go with his cyberization without breaking his free will."

"Aww, poor Finitevus. I'll make sure you don't get stuck with the bill." With that, Robotnik's transmission shut off.

Finitevus wasn't one to lose his temper, but this seemed to be the last straw; in his rage, he pounded his mummified hands onto the computer keyboard, to no effect.

In reaction, the computer screen switched on, this time with Lien-Da on the receiving end. "Fin? What's wrong? I heard a noise."

The echidna's fangs bared, his hands quivering, while his back was turned to her. As he replied, he forced a wiry smile. "…It's nothing, my love. Just a minor setback, that's all."

"Very well then, I'll check in later." The computer switched off again.

"Grrr," went Finitevus in a low tone. "…Just you wait, Robotnik. Just you wait… I still have one wild card in my deck. And once I unleash _him_, you'll be sorry you ever crossed Doctor Finitevus."

.

**SAVING PROGRESS**

**.**

**-CONTINUE STORY MODE-**

**NEXT: ONYX TEMPLE ZONE**

**.**

**-TEAM SELECTION-**

**One Team, Both Acts **

**Two Teams, One Act Each**

**.**

**For Act 1,**

**-SELECT (UP TO TWO) WARRIORS-**

**Sally Acorn, ****Shadow Hedgehog****, ****Julie-Su Echidna****, Knuckles Echidna, Bunnie, Rabbot, Amy Rose**

**YOU'VE SELECTED:**

**NEW TEAM!**

**G.U.N.S FOR HIRE: Shadow (Stealth) and Julie-Su (Stealth)**

**-BONUS!-**

**You've just unlocked "I Am (All of Me)" by Crush 40!**

**.**

**For Act 2,**

**-SELECT (UP TO TWO) WARRIORS-**

**Sally Acorn, ****Knuckles Echidna****, Bunnie Rabbot, ****Amy Rose**

**YOU'VE SELECTED:**

**ROSE RED: Knuckles (Power) and Amy (Heal)**

.

**LOADING ZONE…**


	26. ONYX TEMPLE ZONE: Rose Red, GUNS

**26. "The Big Freeze"**

.

An eerie chill filled the air on a cloudless night, while a tall ancient-looking temple stood silently in the middle of a vast plain. The temple appeared to be carved out of pure rock, like the Incan city of Machu Picchu; it looked half-finished, with its main walls looking like bricks and its outer ends looking more like a chiseled mountain. But its main stairway and temple ground was reminiscent of the ancient Mayan temple, Chichen Itza. All was quiet at the temple, when-

"-CONTROL!"

In a flash of light, a gang of Mobians appeared like magic. It was Shadow, Knuckles, Sally, Bunnie, Amy, and Julie-Su, who have just arrived via Chaos Control, courtesy of Shadow. They gazed up at the temple stairway in awe.

"…You know," frowned a concerned Amy, "I think we would have heard from the others by now. You think they might still be in there?"

"Only one way to find out," replied Shadow as he took the first few steps. "Come on, we've wasted enough time as it is." He then skated up the stairs on his rocket-powered shoes.

Bunny whispered sarcastically into Sally's ear, "He sure is the life o' the party, that one." Sally giggled before leading the rest of the charge.

…

**- ONYX TEMPLE ZONE -**

**.**

**Team Selected: Rose Red (Knuckles and Amy)**

**.**

**- ACT I -**

A deep blue ran rampant in the temple's interior, mainly because everything seemed to be frozen over in ice and even some snow. It was a blessing for the warriors that the floor wasn't as slippery as it looked, unlike in the second Act of Frozen Peak Zone. However, there were plenty of other hazards here, lurking in the shadows; Penguinators and Ice Orbinauts, just to name a few. Legionnaires were also running about, dressed in black cloaks and armed with icicles for lances.

And then, there was the temple itself. Underneath the ice, one could just barely make out chiseled mosaics and totem poles, but that beauty was overshadowed by dangerous spike pits and fragile stalactites above. It was dark, it was blue, it was freezing cold. And it was about to be invaded a second time.

"This place is covered in ice," said Amy while Knuckles led the duo. As the team moved, their exhaling breath was visible as small puffs of white.

Getting the first few Rings was easy; it was merely a run straight ahead…

**Ring Count: 5**

Then the path dipped into a slide, one that proved to be too slippery for Knuckles to slow himself down, and he slipped right into an Ice Orbinaut.

**Ring Count: 3**

Amy recovered three Rings, not that it mattered due to her Healing ability. But as he was blinking in recovery, Knuckles found an opportunity to pulverize the Ice Orbinaut. Soon after, two Penguinators and one Yeti-Bear armed with an icicle came at him. They were no match for Knuckles.

He then saw that the ground was going to form a slide once again, so he jumped at the edge and glided across to a wall encased in ice. He then climbed up with his spike-like knuckles, onto a platform where he was rewarded with a Ten-Ring Box.

**Ring Count: 13**

Seeing as how there was a dead-end, he had no choice but to fall down onto the slide. Only this time he jumped up at its base to keep himself from slipping into a spike pit. He glided across the pit and snagged more Rings

**Ring Count: 18**

"My turn!" cheered Amy, as Knuckles tagged her into play.

As Amy ran across the room, two Legionnaires jumped up from piles of snow, armed with icicles shaped like swords. She double-smacked them with her hammer before moving onto a block of ice, which lifted her upward. Upon its ascension, the ice block began to descend; Amy jumped across onto another moving block of ice, which pulled her forward. As it did, two Ice Orbinauts were floating along its path. Amy managed to jump over one, but was hit by the other.

**Ring Count: 9**

The ice platform stopped at the edge of a solid path; Amy jumped onto it and Piko-Dashed ahead, into an unsuspecting Penguinator, and over a loop-de-loop made of ice, where Rings were lined up.

**Ring Count: 16**

While still spinning, Amy missed a chance to grind on a rail made of ice, but instead was hurled down a slide that gave way to a spike pit. Fortunately, she jumped onto a fallen stalactite's top just in time.

"Let me at 'em!" called out Knuckles. The echidna took the lead, and jump-glided across the spike pit, then latched his fists onto the wall on the other side. As he was climbing upward, he stumbled upon a secret passageway. While going through the tunnel, he was rewarded with two Ten-Ring Boxes, and a third Item Box.

**Ring Count: 36**

**Acquired: Fire Shield**

"Sweet!" he cheered.

With his arms swinging, Knuckles plowed through the wall of the tunnel, nearly falling from the ledge but jumped into a glide once again In mid-air, he caught onto an icy rail and started to grind onto it with his show soles. Along its zig-zagging path, he melted two Ice Orbinauts with his shield and slid through a long line of Rings.

**Ring Count: 48 **

At the edge of the rail, Knuckles jump-glided again, missing a spike pit and dodging two stalactites as they were falling into the pit. He also glided into an Ice Orbinaut, which would have been a hazard if not for his Fire Shield. But then, upon landing on solid ground, Knuckles met with three sword-swinging Legionnaires. They all came at him at once, and while he jumped onto two without a problem, the third extinguished his shield. Angered, Knuckles slammed his fist into the black-robed echidna, causing him to teleport out of sight.

"Tag me!" called out Amy.

Though she was rather slow, Amy was about to have the time of her life, slamming her hammer into the next five Legionnaires as they dared tried to get in her path. Three of them were holding icicles shaped like maces; the others had the ice swords. None of them could beat the swinging Piko-Piko Hammer. For her efforts, Amy grabbed the Rings floating above, as well as a Ten-Ring Box hiding in plain sight.

**Ring Count: 62**

Amy then jumped onto an ice block platform, which pushed itself down a slide, across a spike pit that proved useless, and through three hidden rooms that were sealed away in ice.

**Ring Count: 71**

Then at last, she came to a complete stop. The room she entered was very small, with only one way out. Well actually, two; the first was the obvious floating ice platform, but…

"Let me at 'em!" Knuckles found a faster way, by climbing up the wall. He missed five more Rings, but he felt he had more than enough for the journey.

As he climbed to the top of the ledge, an Ice Orbinaut dared to appear just a few inches in front of him. He jumped backward, nearly falling back down, but landed on top of the floating ice block. There, he waited until the Ice Orbinaut floated away, then made it back to the top where he was greeted by seven more Legionnaires.

"TEAM-UP!"

At the cost of fifty Rings, Amy and Knuckles performed their signature move: "Rosy Roulette." Knuckles grabbed ahold of Amy's free hand, while her other hand gripped tightly onto her hammer. Knuckles started to spin round and round, faster and faster, until they became a reddish-pink spinning top with a hammer on its edge. They moved freely on all sides, pushing themselves into their opponents and watched as the Legionnaires and Badniks flew off-screen on impact of the hammer's mallet.

**Ring Count: 21**

"That was so worth it," smiled Knuckles, even though he was looking rather dizzy right afterwards.

Knuckles had nothing in his way for a while, so he was free to grab the lines of Rings that were on the ground and floating just over his head.

**Ring Count: 33**

Knuckles entered another seemingly safe room, when suddenly a gigantic snowball came falling from a hole in the ceiling, and began to chase him down. He had no time to spin-dash, and so as he ran at full speed, he almost got run over and buried by the snowball. Fortunately, he jumped from a ledge and glided onto an ice rail, safe from harm. As he grinded down the loopy rail, he had to switch onto another one as the first gave way. Then a third appeared; he jumped onto it just as the second melted away. All the while, he grabbed even more Rings.

**Ring Count: 68**

Knuckles then jump-glided onto a wall, then climbed upward, into yet another secret tunnel where he was rewarded with two Ten-Ring Boxes.

**Ring Count: 88**

As he slammed through the wall on the other side, Knuckles met with two very large Yeti-Bears, six Legionnaires, and two Ice Orbinauts floating across the ceiling. There were floating ice blocks present, serving as safe escapes from the enemies… but why would he be bothered by that?

"TEAM-UP!"

Once again, Knuckles grabbed hold of Amy's right arm while she gripped onto her hammer with her left one. They spun and spun until their bodies blurred into a spinning top. Not even the large Yeti-Bears were a match; with two hits each, they were pulverized.

**Ring Count: 38**

Amy took the lead, but paused to shake off her dizziness. She then Piko-Dashed herself into the Goal Line straight ahead.

…

**- ACT I CLEARED! -**

**Ring Count: 38**

**Bonus Points: +20,000 **

**Level Up! Knuckles can use "Ground-Breaker!"**

**Level-Up! Amy can use "Heart-Breaker!"**

**Rank: S (You've earned a Continue!)**

**Continues: 2**

…

**- ACT II -**

**Team Selected: G.U.N.S For Hire (Shadow and Julie-Su)**

**Song: "I Am (All of Me)" by Crush 40**

"Where could the others be?" wondered Julie-Su as she took the lead.

Two seconds into her run, and Julie-Su came upon a trio of Penguinators. They slid like torpedos on the icy floor, but she was quick to jump onto them in a hot pink ball. Right behind them were five Rings to jump into.

**Ring Count: 5**

A giant stalactite came falling down, but instead of blocking her path it plowed straight through it, causing a small crater in the earth. Julie jumped, but not far enough; she clung onto the edge of the pit before pulling herself out.

An Ice Orbinaut came floating her way next, but she dodged it by ducking out of its way; unlike most Orbinauts, these icy ones would not relinquish their barbs so easily. Fortunately, three Rings were floating right behind it.

**Ring Count: 8**

Into the next room she ran, where there were several icy totems scattered around the place, forming a maze. Julie ran to the far left (three Rings), then to the far right, (three Rings) then down the middle where she ran into two Legionnaires armed with icicle lances. She shot down one and jumped onto the other; both were teleported away.

**Ring Count: 14**

"Tag me, you fool!" called out Shadow from behind, and he was tagged into play.

Shadow hopped up a staircase of ice blocks, into a hallway with two more falling giant icicles. He managed to double-jump over the first crater, but took notice of the Item Box uncovered within the second one. He jumped on it, and was rewarded with a shield.

**Acquired: Fire Shield**

As the blaze encircled him, Shadow double-jumped out of the crater and used the shield's ability to flash forward, straight through an Ice Orbinaut and over a Penguinator.

Shadow had to stop while a giant snowball- one big enough to fill the room- passed by over his path. He fire-flashed forward in case another would show up. Along the way, he grabbed more Rings as he entered the next platform.

**Ring Count: 19**

The next hallway had three plugs on the ceiling that emitted a mist that could freeze a player; Shadow was skating across when the second one's mist froze him in a block of ice. He was then released, but lost his Fire Shield. No worse for wares, he skated on.

The next room had a larger set of totems lined up like a maze, where more Rings and Legionnaires were waiting behind the statues. Shadow was forced to veer left, right, left, center, left, right, then center again before coming across any real danger.

**Ring Count: 28**

A whole line of Legionnaires were waiting, with their lances sticking out like pikes. The only thing he though to do at that point was pay 25 Rings to skip over them as well as the rest of the maze: "Chaos Control!"

**Ring Count: 3**

"Allow me!" said Julie-Su as she was tagged into play. While she wasn't as fast as Shadow, she was equally armed and dangerous, which proved useful against the Penguinators that were sliding her way.

But then suddenly, her path dipped into an icy slide which decreased her traction as she slipped into the next hall, and almost into a spike pit. Luckily she was quick enough to do a jump that stopped her momentum. She then had to wait for three small icicles to hit the spike pit, then use their tops as platforms, to travel across. While she jumped forward, she caught a fair amount of Rings.

**Ring Count: 12**

Her path started to zig-zag, while another giant snowball was seen up ahead. This one was sliding back and forth on two slopes, one on each wall, so that it was moving in pendulum-like fashion. Julie had to time her run right before it could slam into her, and she made it just in time. Two Legionnaires tried to surprise her by jumping into play, but she shot each of them down before moving on.

"Let me show you how it's done," gloated Shadow as he was tagged into play.

Being the higher jumper, Shadow ignored the usual path and double-jumped onto an icy rail that acted as a loopy slide across a path of spikes and Ice Orbinauts. The rail was also littered with Rings, which would prove useful. Shadow grinded across like a pro.

**Ring Count: 38**

"Excellent," he smiled upon landing into a low level of the temple.

.

Shadow stopped in the middle of the journey to notice a hole in a wall, sealed in ice. It wasn't the ice that intrigued him, it was inside the ice block that did. There were small figure silhouettes in there, indicating that two creatures were trapped inside.

"Hmm… What could this be?" he wondered out loud. "…Chaos Spear!" He launched a green light of pure energy from his right fist, smashing the ice into oblivion.

Just as he had suspected, two small wolf children were being held prisoner within the chamber, only they were now Roboticized and standing motionlessly as though they were "switched off," just as Metal Mina was.

"Shadow, what are you…?" asked Julie as she approached the scene. After taking one glance at the pups, she gasped. "They're… they're just children!"

"Yes," nodded Shadow, "and they're comatose, it seems."

"What do we do?"

"We'll keep them here for now, let's get to the heart of the temple where we'll find more answers." With that, they left the helpless wolf children behind.

.

Shadow skated on, ignoring both Penguinators and Ice Orbinauts on his way to the third and final totem pole-maze of the Act. This one was, of course, the longest running of the three, but shadow had more than enough Rings to pass through half of it stealthily.

"Chaos Control!" _**ZIP!**_

**Ring Count: 13**

Still, he was only halfway into the maze and now being surrounded by ice-encased totems, he was truly lost. He began to skate forward, then turned left, right (three Rings), left, left again (three Rings), into a Legionnaire that almost slew him with his lance. Shadow jumped on him before moving forward. Then, with three turns to the right, he found a Ten-Ring Box.

**Ring Count: 29**

"Chaos Control!" _**ZIP!**_

**Ring Count: 4**

Finally, he was free. But now an even bigger gauntlet awaited him: a huge Yeti-Bear, armed with a massive stalactite. "Eh, great," moaned the black hedgehog.

"Let me!" called out Julie-Su, and she came at the Yeti-Bear with guns blazing. However, she was missing its hit box, which was its head. It swung its icicle mace at her, but she dodged it by rolling into a ball. It then jumped into the air and tried to land on top of her, but again it missed. As it landed, it formed a crater in the earth not unlike the giant stalactites did earlier. Then at last, Julie took a shot for its head and hit it once.

"Tag me, you fool!"

Shadow just barely missed getting hit by the stalactite weapon as he skated around the Yeti-Bear, and waited for it to lower its arms. When it did, he fired two shots and both shots hit it. But then the giant Badnik jumped and landed through the ground again, shattering Shadow's path. He now had to double-jump across the crater to the other safe platform before trying to hit it again with his gun. He missed.

"Let me!"

Julie stood her ground and fired two more times. One bullet hit the Badnik's head, the other hit its icicle shield.

"I'll show you how it's done!"

While the team switched, the Yeti-Bear started to drop its guard more, making it an easier target. Shadow needed to only hit it two more times, then it exploded into nothingness. There was no stopping the black hedgehog now from reaching the Goal Line.

.

**- ACT II CLEARED! -**

**Ring Count: 4**

**Bonus Points: 8,000**

**Rank: A (Very Good!)**

.

In the heart of the temple, everything was covered in dark blue ice, from the ceiling to the floor. The group almost didn't notice what was hiding inside the stalactites in the center; their main focus was the giant emerald-cut onyx sitting atop a shrine shaped like a giant stone wolf with his paws cupping it.

"What is this place?" mused Shadow.

Sally explained, "This temple is a sacred place for the wolf people; this onyx was their good luck charm before Chief Lupe was allowed to care for her own Sol Emerald."

"So, the onyx is powerless?" asked Julie-Su.

"Sort of," nodded Sally. "It was one of the original emeralds that came to our world long ago, but a mysterious figure known as Ixus robbed it of its core power. It's a long, ancient story."

Then from Amy came a gasp of horror. "Oh no… Look!" she pointed toward the giant stalactites, causing everyone to look upward. "It's the others… we're too late."

Indeed, trapped within the stalactites were the rest of the Freedom Fighters: Sonic, Tails, Antoine, Guntiever, and even Rotor were frozen in time.

"Oh mah stars," gasped a saddened Bunnie. "…Sal, can't we help them with Amy's healing power?"

"It's worth a try," nodded Sally. But then…

"_**¡**__**Intrusos al santuario será eliminado!"**_

"Who said that?" asked Knuckles as he and Shadow braced for battle. "…Show yourself!"

"**I said…"** purred a metallic voice before its owner jumped into the scene. She, Metal Lupe, gazed into their eyes with blue beacons for eyes. **"…Trespassers to my shrine shall be eliminated!"** She then stretched out her silvery arms, as her wrists extended what appeared to be small cannons.

It was game time.

.

**SELECT (UP TO THREE) WARRIORS:**

**Sally Acorn**

**Knuckles the Echidna**

**Julie-Su the Echidna**

**Shadow the Hedgehog**

**Bunnie Rabbot**

**Amy Rose**

.

**LOADING BOSS BATTLE…**

.


	27. BOSS BATTLE: vs Metal Lupe

**.27: "Pack Mentality"**

**.**

Just as the team readied itself for battle, Metal-Lupe vanished into thin air. She then re-appeared clinging onto a wall, before teleporting once again, this time right behind them. They whirled back to face her, but she vanished again.

"Stealth-Type. Go figure," frowned Julie in frustration.

"She's so fast!" exclaimed Amy. "How're we even going to catch her if she keeps moving like that?"

Shadow paused to think, then said, "Wait, I've got it! CHAOS-" _Poof_, he was gone.

Metal-Lupe kept dashing left and right before, _Poof!_ "-CONTROL!" Shadow reappeared, this time clutching onto an arm of each of the two robotic wolf children he found earlier in the Zone. "Hey, she-wolf! Do these two look familiar?"

Metal-Lupe's soulless blue beacons gazed at the children, then all at once, her body shook in surprise. **"…My. Babies."**

"I thought so," nodded Shadow. "You better make this a fair fight, or they're gonna get it!" with that, he held up his gun at the male child.

The robotic she-wolf growled, **"You. Will. Pay…"**

**.**

**- BOSS BATTLE: vs. METAL LUPE -**

**Boss Song: "Scrambled Eggman" from **_**"Project Chaos"**_

**Artists: "BrainCells" and "SnappleMan"**

"**Return. My. Babies."** Metal-Lupe fired mist from her wrists, the same kind that guaranteed a freezing of whoever touched it. The gang dodged the attack, but Metal-Lupe quickly lunged at them with swinging kicks.

Bunnie was in the lead; she scrambled to grab the three Rings that were present on the battlefield.

**Ring Count: 3**

Then she attacked with her ranging punch, but missed. Metal-Lupe still used her teleporting effect, but at a closer range this time. She came at Bunnie with karate chops and kicks; Bunnie was hit once.

**Ring Count: 0-1**

Amy quickly recovered a Ring, making her take the lead. She double-smacked her hammer into Metal-Lupe, hitting her once, but then the she-wolf vanished again. She reappeared on the other side of the battlefield and sprayed her ice mist. The mist missed Amy by a long shot, but then Metal-Lupe teleported over to her and fired again. Amy froze in place, then when the ice shattered around her, she lost her Ring.

**Ring Count: 0**

Amy tried swinging her hammer again, but missed as Metal-Lupe dodged the attack with a high jump. Then the she-wolf landed on top of Amy's head. With no Rings left to protect her, she was put out of commission.

Bunnie's turn was next; she tried to launch her extendable arm out to Metal-Lupe, but missed. Metal-Lupe was much more agile than she looked, and sprayed her mist at Bunnie. She was automatically put out of commission.

Finally, it was Julie's turn. She tried firing her gun at Metal-Lupe, and managed to hit her just once in the head before the she-wolf came flying at her with a spinning round kick. Julie fell, knocked out cold.

.

**- MISSION: FAILED! -**

**Try Again?**

**Yes**** / No**

**-1 Continue**

.

**SELECT WARRIORS:**

**Knuckles the Echidna**

**Shadow the Hedgehog**

**Bunnie Rabbot**

**.**

**RE-LOADING BOSS BATTLE…**

**.**

**- BOSS BATTLE: vs. METAL LUPE -**

**Boss Song: "Scrambled Eggman" from **_**"Project Chaos"**_

**Artists: "BrainCells" and "SnappleMan"**

"**Surrender. Intruders."**

Shadow was first to go; he fired his gun at will, hitting Metal-Lupe once as she jumped around like a mad grasshopper. She then disappeared, then reappeared in the far right side of the battlefield. Shadow was caught off guard, and waited for her to return to the center of the ring. When she did, he fired his gun again. Two hits.

"Get the Rings!" called out Knuckles. Shadow obeyed, snagging the three Rings that re-energized after the last battle.

**Ring Count: 3**

"**My. Babies."** Metal-Lupe sprayed her mist guns at Shadow, but he skated out of the way. She started jumping around again, which shadow had no patience for.

"My turn!" said Sally as she was tagged into play. She swung her staff at Metal-Lupe once, but missed. She swung again, and caught her just as she was landing. Three hits down. Sally trued another attack, but Metal-Lupe disappeared before she could land it.

Metal-Lupe poofed in and out of the battle, until she stopped in the dead center, unleashing her icy mist. Sally twirl-jumped out of the way, and just missed hitting her opponent in the head. She then tagged Knuckles into play.

Knuckles used his Burrow ability to sneak right underneath the she-wolf. As he was invisible to her, she stood still long enough to be attacked from underneath. While the two of them were launched into the air, Knuckles punched her quickly, twice. Five hits down.

Metal-Lupe was now starting to spatter sparks and flash red, and was clearly agitated. **"You. Will. Pay,"** she muttered, before starting to fade in and out of the scene, twice as fast as ever. All Knuckles had to do was wait for her to end her wild stealth rage, then burrowed beneath the ground again. Helpless, she paused to seek her enemy, only he came launching out of the ground right from underneath her. He managed to get one hit in, but then she kicked the Rings out of him in mid-air.

**Ring Count: 0-2**

Sally caught two of the Rings while running into play. She then caught Metal-Lupe off guard while she was about to spray her icy mist again, hitting her square in the torso with her golden staff. The she-wolf dropped to the floor, defeated.

.

**-MISSION: COMPLETE!-**

"Yeah! Alright!" jumped Knuckles.

"Great work, team!" cheered Sally.

"That was almost fun," said Shadow as he dusted his arms.

.

"…**s-s-s-s-System. Failure. System. Failure. Rebooting. Rebooting…"** Metal-Lupe was wobbling on her feet, electric sparks flying from her elbows, knees and hips.

"Quick, Amy, now's your chance!" gasped Julie-Su.

Amy held up the purple Sol Emerald to the metallic wolf. "Lupe Wolf, Chief of the Wolf Nation, you are hereby freed from your prison… And please Sol Emerald, free our other friends as well! **Release**!"

A great flash of purple light filled the room and disintegrated into billions of sparkles. Among the sparkles, the once frozen Freedom Fighters floated down to earth, fully regenerated. Also, the three Roboticized wolves were now flesh and fur.

**-YOU'VE RELEASED: LUPE THE WOLF!-**

"….Aye, aye, aye. ¿Che? …Where am I?" muttered the grown she-wolf while her head was still spinning in a daze.

"Mama? Is that you?" chirped the young female wolf by her side.

Lupe gasped, "Marcos! Maria! Oh, my babies, you're alright!" She fell to her knees to embrace her children.

Shadow, nearby, gulped and felt chilled upon hearing the name "Maria."

Meanwhile, Sonic and the other unfrozen warriors were still shaking off the cold. "Brrr," shook Sonic, "that's the last time I ever run straight into a freezer."

"What happened?" asked Rotor while cupping his forehead.

Sally giggled, "You were all put under ice by the time we got here. Amy just freed you with the Sol Emerald.

Chief Lupe then stepped forward with a heavy heart. "Thank you, all of you… I am terribly sorry if I've harmed your friends."

"Aw Lupe," smiled Bunnie, "it wasn't yer fault. You didn't know what you were doin'."

"That is precisely my point," frowned Lupe as she hung her head in shame. "I was here in this temple when Robotnik appeared before me. He held my pups hostage; he said that if I did not surrender, they would be Roboticized. I was a fool to trust his word."

While the others paused, Amy managed to scoot over to Shadow and whispered, "You weren't really going to shoot them, were you?"

He crossed his arms. "Hmph. That's for _me_ to know…" But Amy knew better; she gave him a smirk.

Meanwhile, the wolf family was still hugging. "We're okay now, Mama," purred Maria. "We can all go home now."

"…Yes," Lupe smiled at last. "Yes, we must go and undo the damage I've done."

"Not yet, you don't!" came a dark, feminine voice out of nowhere.

The group looked around to pinpoint the voice's location before a familiar she'chidna appeared from a second level of the room. She had entered through a secret passage and was now looking down on her enemies with a sinister smile.

"Lien-Da," hissed Julie-Su, the first to notice her.

The Legionnaire Mistress chuckled, "My, my. What a nice little group we have here. Too bad _we _still have the blue Sol Emerald."

While the others were focused on Lien-Da's face and the blue Sol Emerald she was holding in her claws, Sally was more transfixed on what she was wearing. "…Is that a fur coat?" she muttered.

Lien-Da showed off her new coat, which was mostly a golden brown with a red, fox-like trim on its edges. "You like it, Princess? I thought you'd might, since you were the main donator. Hee-hee-hee-hee," she wimked.

That's when it hit Sally. Her eyes bulged in shock, which quickly grew into a deep rage. "…my…. My tail. That's my_ tail_, isn't it?"

"I have to admit, brown really isn't m color. Maybe I'll dye it silver, or pure gold. What do you think would look better, Sally?"

Sally's hands trembled as her teeth grit in hatred. "You… You sick, twisted…" Then without warning, she dashed over to Antoine to snatch his sword before he could gasp. She then raised it up to Lien-Da. "GIVE IT BACK!"

"Which one, the coat or the emerald?"

"Both! Give the emerald back to Lupe, and _give me back my tail_ you evil bitch!"

"You want 'em? Come and get 'em." With that, Lien-Da retreated through the secret tunnel.

As Sally blindly charged forward, Sonic smiled to Tails, "Ho boy, this is gonna be good." Then he raced after her with the others in tow.

.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	28. Closure For Canus

**28. "Closure For Canus"**

.

"Where do you think you're going, you butchering Jezebel?"

The Princess of Acorn was coming in close to the fleeing Mistress of the Dark Legion, after seeing her enemy sporting her once magnificent squirrel tail as a fur coat. With sword in hands, she was poised to strike, but Lien-Da had a plan. She _wanted_ Sally to come after her.

They raced down a long, ice-covered tunnel that led to a room where totems carved from stone surrounded a circle where wolves would pray in worship to whatever gods they revered. A high alter stood at the furthest of walls, where Lien-Da prepared to fight back. She detached the one metallic quill on the left side of her head, and stretched it out until it became a wiry bullwhip. Within seconds, the whip and sword clashed.

Sally swung Antoine's sword back and forth like a baseball bat, but Lien-Da was quick to counter each swing with her whip-lock. The red she'chidna spun around and lashed out at the princess, knocking the sword out of her hands. Before Sally knew it, she was punched square in the face and fell off the alter, onto the cold hard floor. Lien-Da tried to jump on her, but she rolled out of the way, just in time to grab the sword's handle. She swung it at Lien-Da's heels, but the Dark Legion's Mistress proved to be too agile; she double-jumped out of the way and back onto the alter like a gold-medal gymnast.

"Give it up, little girl. You've only begun your warrior training, and I've been at this since I've hatched."

Sally paused to catch her breath; already she was showing signs of fatigue. It was mostly due to the fact that she and her friends had been venturing through Zone after Zone with hardly any breaks. But the princess stared down her enemy with her blue eyes burning. With a roar, she jumped toward Lien-Da, only to be frozen in a big block of ice, thanks to the blue Sol Emerald Lien-Da held out.

"HA-hahahahaha!" laughed the villainess. "Did you forget about the emerald so soon? My, aren't we eager to die." She then kicked the block with her boot, shattering it and making Sally fall to the floor even harder than before. She then walked over to Sally and picked her up by the scruff of her neck. "I wonder, is there enough fur here left to make a new coat? …No, perhaps not. Maybe a wallet then, or a scarf- Oof!"

Sally kicked Lien-Da in the stomach, causing her to release her grip and fall back. Sally got to her feet and growled before swinging the sword once again. This time, she managed to slice through Lien-Da's pink hair bangs, cutting them to half their length. As Lien-Da jumped away, Sally picked up one of the locks and cheered, "Ha! Now we're even."

"Hardly," hissed Lien-Da. She then raised up her Sol Emerald toward the ceiling, calling down the stalactite formation that hung like a chandelier. The spikes fell down around Sally, caging her in one place. Sally sliced her way free, but just as she did so Lien-Da came at her with a harsh drop-kick. Sally slid backward into a wall, and was knocked out cold.

Lien-Da chuckled in victory, when suddenly she heard an eerie wolf howl in the distance. That's when she remembered, "Lupe…"

Magically, the Chieftain she-wolf appeared before Lien-Da as her Stealth ability would allow her to. Lupe was now armed with a long spear and aimed it at she echidna. "That emerald rightfully belongs to me, chica."

Lien-Da tried to keep a firm grip onto it, but the blue Sol Emerald seemed to recognize its true master, and gravitated itself toward Lupe. "Urgh… No!" hollered Lien-Da as her grip on the gem failed. She growled in defeat before looking back at the downed Sally. "…Oh well, if I can't have the emerald, at least I can take the consolation prize." She approached Sally, when out of nowhere a blue hedgehog appeared standing between her and her prey. "What!" she gasped in disbelief.

Sonic smirked, "Sorry, our princess is in another castle." He then scooped Sally up into his arms, and was gone in a flash.

"Impossible!" gasped Lien-Da. She had no choice then but to face off against Chief Lupe.

"It is over, Legionnaire. Surrender, and I may go easy on you."

"I never go down without a fight!" Lien-Da pulled out her whip-lock again.

Then, without warning, a green orb appeared around Lien-Da, encasing her even to her surprise. It floated upward, then in a flash it zoomed out through the ceiling.

"What in the world?" muttered a puzzled Lupe, as the rest of the Freedom Fighters ran into the scene. Before she addressed them, however, she paused to look down on the floor, seeing that the Mistress was forced to leave her golden-brown fur coat behind.

.

Within a few short hours, wolf howls pierced the night skies. It was a sign that the wolves of the kingdom were all freed and on their way to assist their benevolent chieftain at her temple. This was the cue for the Dark Legion to make their hasty retreat. There was only one airship owned by the legion that was making its escape; only one was needed to hold what was left of their gang after such a miserable defeat at the hands of both the Freedom Fighters and the Dingo Regime.

While on board the airship, a begrudged Lien-Da was sitting in a chair while her handmaiden Gae-Na restyled her bangs into a cleaner, parted cut. Sitting nearby was an equally disappointed Finitevus, with young Rutan on his lap. Behind her was a very tall three-sided folding screen, behind which Ixus Mammoth was changing into a new outfit.

The Mistress addressed the creature behind the folding screen with a deep tone of resentment: "You shouldn't have intervened like that, Ixus. I could have taken them all on by myself."

Said Ixus from behind the screen, "You were outnumbered, you lost the Sol Emerald, and my powers have not fully regenerated. Retreat was our only option."

"I have to agree with Ixus my dear," frowned Finitevus.

Lien-Da turned to her mate in a huff. "All that fossil fuel, all those workers! It was all for nothing, wasn't it?"

"Not necessarily. We _did_ find Ixus, and you have certainly dampened their spirits a bit, I think."

"But that was our last stronghold. Where do we go now, Fin? Back to Labyrinth and start all over?"

"…Yes," nodded Finitevus with a curvy smile. "We shall go back, and triple our guard just as Robotnik advised us to some time ago. He must not be aware of our new ally. And besides, I've heard rumors of yet another being who has won his favor already."

"Who? What is his name?"

"_Her_ name, my dear, is The Iron Queen. No one knows where she came from or where her base is, but something tells me she could be useful to us. And at this point, we may need all the help we can get… No offense to _you_ of course, Ixus Mammoth."

"None taken," said the mammoth behind the shade. His folding screen was then folded up and pushed aside, making the echidnas look up and stare in awe at his new garments. It was a white business suit with purple trimming, complete with a purple tie with a white jewel reminiscent of a Sol Emerald in its center. He was also sporting a jeweled cane, black dress shoes, and rings on the fingers of his white gloves. "I have requested your tailors to give me a suit worthy of the modern age, and I must say, I rather like it."

Finitevus smiled, "It's quite stylish, Master Ixus."

The brown mammoth chuckled. "Thank you, but that title is no longer necessary. If I'm going to be a part of this era, then I should adopt a modern name as well… From now on, I shall be known as Mammoth Mogul."

.

Early the next morning, the wolves, dingoes and Freedom Fighters all gathered into the place of prayer within the Onyx Temple. Now with Lupe free, the temple's interior was no longer covered in dark ice. In fact, a bonfire was set in the center circle, only this bonfire had a special purpose: to cremate the late Drago Wolf.

With her pack's heads bowed in prayer, Lupe stood at the alter, donning a feathered crown much like that of a traditional Native American Chieftain, and also sported golden necklaces, bracelets and a golden belt with Inca carvings on it.

"Ancestors," said Lupe in prayer, "we offer you our fallen brother Drago, whose soul is now in your hands."

Nearby, Sonic and friends stood with Guntiver; the hedgehog nudged him curiously. "This is kinda weird; I thought they'd leave him in the dust after he betrayed him."

"That is not our way," smiled Guntiver softly. "We believe that it's not our place to judge others; that's something only the Great Spirits can do." Sonic nodded, understanding.

Lupe then raised her voice, "My friends and children, we have done all that we could for Drago in life. Let us honor him and all of those who have fallen, in a ceremonial howl. Raise your voices to the heavens so that our ancestors will hear."

"_Awooo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo!"_ they all howled together as one. Even Sonic and a few others of his group were compelled to howl with them.

.

After the funeral, came the fiesta.

All day long, the wolf pack danced and sang around the temple's garden, dancing with traditional feathered cloaks and throwing confetti while a band of dingoes played music. Lupe, her husband Lobo, and their children sat on the temple steps and watched their friends celebrate their freedom, and pretty soon Julie-Su and Knuckles decided to join them.

"Chief Lupe?" chirped the red male echidna. "…You probably don't remember me, but I heard your cry for help before you were Roboticized. My name's Knuckles."

Lupe shook his bulky hand. "It's good to finally meet you, Señor Knuckles."

"I'm Julie-Su."

"Pleased to meet you, Señorita Julie-Su. We are so thankful for your help."

"Well actually," smiled Julie nervously, "we kinda messed up your village. See, the dam broke and we're willing to fix it."

"Not to worry," smiled Lupe, "with my Sol Emerald I can return the lake to its proper form. But I do appreciate the thought."

"So what's next? I mean, after repairing the village, are you going to stay here?" Knuckles asked.

The chieftain replied, "Lobo and I have discussed it. As soon as we clean up the mess left behind by those Legionnaires, I will rally up our best warriors and join the Dingo Regime on their quest to Robotropolis."

Knuckles gasped, "You're… you're gonna take Robotnik head on?"

"That's bold… I like it," added Julie.

"We will not be alone," Lupe said, shaking her head. "We plan on joining up with Princess Blaze, who I've heard is on her own personal quest right now… I would also like to invite Princess Sally to the journey, but… I cannot find her."

.

Sonic was looking for Sally too; with the party going on, he wanted someone to dance with. Someone who wasn't going to step on his toes or threaten him with a giant hammer. "Sal? …Sally, where are you?" he called out.

He came at last to a hilltop overlooking the festival; Sally was on the other side of it, kicking and karate-chopping the air as though it had offended her in some way. Sonic decided to approach her carefully.

"…Sal? What're you doing?"

The princess paused to catch her breath before replying, "I almost got myself captured. Twice! I've gotta step up my game. _Hyah! Hi-yah_!"

The blue hedgehog couldn't help but giggle. "Come on, relax. The fight's over; we're all having a party over there."

"Yes, well, you go ahead and party, Sonic. I've got moves to improve. _Ha_!" With that, she thrust her arm forward, as thought trying to choke someone's neck.

Sonic signed, then pulled out something from behind his quills. "I got your coat. Err, tail. Sorry." Sally paused to see the coat fashioned through her tail. "It's all yours if you want it," Sonic coaxed.

Sally felt touched by the offer and dropped her guard. "…Thanks Sonic, but I don't think I need it anymore."

"You looked really pissed when Lien-Da was wearing it."

"Yeah, well, she just did that to goat me. And it worked, which was totally stupid of me!" she glanced away, ashamed.

Sonic came over to put his hand on her shoulder. "Hey-hey, take it easy on yourself. …So you got angry. Who wouldn't be? I mean, if it were my tail… Heh, well if it were _my_ tail, they'd have a heck of a time turning it into a coat." He giggled, but she remained unhappy. Then he added, "You know what, though? I think I like your short tail. It's really cute."

Sally looked surprised to hear this; no one had ever complimented her stub tail before. She gave it a little wag, then smiled with a sight. "Thanks, Sonic." He replied with a thumbs up.

.

Sally and Sonic walked around through the crowd of wolves, dingoes and Freedom Fighters, until at last they came upon a very young wolf pup who was only wearing a short blue tank top.

"Hey there," cooed Sally. "You look like you could use a blanket." She then wrapped the young boy in the coat and smiled, "There you go. It suits you."

The wolf boy smiled. "Gracias, Señorita." He then scooted off to show off his new coat to his mother.

Sonic gave Sally a gentle elbow; "Nice work."

"Now that," sighed Sally, "is what I call closure."

.

**-BONUS SCENE!-**

The airship used by the Freedom Fighters was floating away from Canus, unsure of its destination. Sally was checking a digital map on her cell phone while Rotor the pilot awaited orders.

"We could go North to Avian from here," Sally mused while her friends listened in. "It's a floating island in the sky, and home to most of Mobius' bird folk."

"A floating island," smiled Knuckles. "That can't just be coincidence, can it?"

"Hmm… Or, we could head South toward the islands of Aquatica." Sally pressed a button to enhance the image of the Aquatican Islands.

Seeing the islands, Sonic gasped, "Hey, those look familiar."

"Sonic!" gasped Tails. "Those are the islands where we met Marine the Raccoon!"

"Oh, you two have been there before?" blinked Sally.

"Once, and it was on accident," smiled Sonic. "But yeah, there's no doubt about it, those are the islands we visited… I wonder if Marine is still-"

**BEEP-BEEP-BEEP! BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!**

"A call's coming in," paused Sally as she opened up her phone's communicator. "Nicole?"

"_Princess Sally?"_

"Oh! It's Princess Blaze! Yes, come in Blaze."

"_Sally. Ken and I have reached the Aquatic Islands, and it's crawling with Badniks. If it's not too much trouble, could you…?"_

"No problem, we're on our way." Sally hung up her phone to address her friends, "Well, it's been settled. Rotor, point us South. We're going to Aquatica!"

Sonic and Tails couldn't help but jump and cheer; at last, they were going somewhere familiar. Perhaps their adventures would get easier from here…

.

**-CONGRATULATIONS!-**

**THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS HAVE BEEN ADDED**

**TO YOUR ROSTER OF WARRIORS:**

**Blaze the Cat (Speed-Type)**

**Monkey Khan (Flight-Type)**

**Number of Warriors: 12**

**-SAVING PROGRESS-**

**-CONTINUE-**

.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	29. Welcome To My Parlor

**29. "Welcome To My Parlor"**

.

**Aquatican Kingdom; Southern Island Zone.**

A clear blue sky, calm seas, and a tropical paradise lying in wait. Things couldn't look better for the approaching airship…

**(Whistle) …KA-BOOM! (Whistle)…KA-BOOM!**

…except for the fireballs being flung at it from the mainland.

**BOO-OO-MM!**

"Yahh!" screamed Rotor as he frantically steered the wheel from the far left to the far right. "…There's no getting around them! We're gonna have to abandon ship!"

Amy ducked for cover nearby, gasping, "Who is it? The Dark Legion? Robotnik?"

Tails was atop the crow's nest, trying to pinpoint the assailant with his telescope. "…It's Blaze!"

Indeed, Blaze the Cat was summoning up her fire power to make cannonball-like fireballs, and then flinging them into the air at the airship.

"Why is she attacking us?" Amy wondered.

Rotor called out, "Maybe it's because this used to be a Dark Legion ship?"

"That's it!" replied Sonic, snapping his fingers. "Tails! Gimmie a lift to shore, stat!"

"On it, Sonic!" called out the little fox. He jumped straight down from the crow's nest, but spun his tails around before he landed. Sonic jumped up and grabbed ahold of the boy's hands, and off they flew to the main shore, trying to dodge as many incoming fireballs as they could.

Meanwhile, Antoine and company were scrambling around the ship with buckets of water to douse the flames. "Sacre bleu!" panted the coyote. "At zis rate, we are never going to land in one piece!"

"Stay cool, sugah, I'm on it!" called out Bunnie as she stomped on the flames with her metallic feet. Smoke was rising, causing her and everyone else to cough heavily.

Finally, Shadow could take no more. He pulled out from behind his back the blue Sol Emerald. "Why don't we just use this Sol Emerald that Lupe lent us?"

Knuckles nearby heard this and gasped, "Shadow, wait! You don't know how to use that!"

"It looks simple enough," replied the black hedgehog with a narrowed eye. He then held it up to the air. "SOL, CONTROL!"

_**Whoosh!**_

A great blue breeze enveloped the ship, and within seconds the entire ship was encased in ice. Everyone on board was unchanged, but now they could see that with the engine frozen over, the ship was about to freefall out of the sky.

Shadow's eyes bulged and his ears drooped. "…oh."

"Eeeee-AAAAAHHHHHH!" screamed everyone on board, as the ship gave in to gravity. Shadow was quick to say, "Quick! Everybody grab my hands!" He grasped onto Amy's hand, then Rotor's, then he clutched onto Knuckles and he to Julie, and Amy clutched onto Bunnie who clutched onto Antoine, and Antoine to Sally.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" _**Zip!**_

With a mighty crash, followed by a great tidal wave, the ship plummeted into the sea just a mile off shore. And with another_** "Zip," **_the gang reappeared on shore unharmed. Dazed and shaken, but unharmed.

Knuckles then marched up to Shadow and bluntly snatched the blue gem out of his hands. "No more Sol for you," said the echidna. Shadow frowned and hung his head in compliance.

.

In minutes, the fireballs stopped flying and all was calm again. But the ship was badly beaten, and upon landing on shore by means of the tide, Rotor and Tails assessed the damage grimly. The sails were torched clean off, the sides burned almost to the bone, and whatever else wasn't burned was still thawing from the ice.

Blaze was standing by Sonic while the rest of his team came to shore. "I'm really sorry," she frowned, "I thought you were an enemy coming in."

"Aw, that's okay," Sonic smiled. "We can always 'borrow' another one from the DL. …So, how've things been, Blaze?"

"It's been two days since Ken and I arrived here, and still no sign of Marine."

"Well, maybe she's hiding out somewhere."

"You know her, Sonic; she never hides. She's usually the first to greet people to these islands."

"…I guess you're right."

Sonic and Blaze started to walk along the beach together, taking their time to talk and observe their surroundings. Sonic looked back toward the giant dead volcano at the center of the mainland. "…You know, it's been a while; I've almost forgotten how nice this place is."

Blaze frowned again, "It's not as nice as it seems. There's no sign of the Dark Legion here, but it's safe to say that Robotnik's laid claim to it; this place is crawling with Badniks and SWATbots. …There's another problem, but it's minor."

"Lay it on me."

"Four ninja clans have come here; each one has a base on one of the four outer islands. They seem like they're nothing more than a bunch of brutes, but it's been said that they're working with The Iron Queen."

"Iron Queen? Never heard of her."

Blaze stopped walking to explain. "There are legends on my home in Felidae about a sorceress who went by that name a long time ago. Her real name was Regina Ferrum. She had power over all metal- possibly from a Sol Emerald- and tried to use that power to take my land. She was only defeated by a meager group of seven samurai…"

Bemused, Sonic paused. "So, this new Iron Queen is trying to repeat history?"

"It looks that way, but no one seems to have seen her. I've talked to most of the locals here."

"Locals? Wasn't this place deserted?"

The purple she-cat smiled. "Oh, that's right, you don't know. Ever since our adventure with Marine here, she spread the word of this place, and it became a tourist attraction almost overnight. Within a year, it's become its own little country, with Marine as one of its main guardians."

"Then, that means…?"

"Yes. When I had to give up six of m Sol Emeralds, the first person to receive one was Marine."

Sonic hopped backward in surprise. "Woah! …Wait, then she really must be in trouble! We gotta find her, or else-"

Blaze stopped him. "Trust me, I've looked all over this island. The only places left to look are home to those ninja clans."

"Then what are we waiting for?" came the voice of Monkey Khan, who floated into the scene on his magical cumulous cloud. "Let's go after them."

"We'll split into groups to cover more ground," Blaze advised. "Ken, you're with me. Sonic?"

"I'll go get Tails. Don't worry, Blaze, we'll find her." Sonic was then off in a flash.

Ken, still floating, turned to his feline leader. "He seems a bit too… hmm. What's the word I'm looking for?"

"Overconfident?"

"Cocky."

"Heh."

"You sure we can trust him with this mission, my princess?"

Blaze the Cat smiled. "Believe me, Ken, when it comes to saving the world, there's no one better to call."

.

**Aracne Island Zone (formerly Plant Paradise Zone).**

"EEEEEEEK! SONIC, HELP! SONIC! SAVE ME, HE-E-E-ELP!"

"…Amy will you relax? It's just a spider web."

The pink she-hog looked rather silly as she was screaming her head off for just having a cobweb stuck in her quills. Sonic and Tails stood by, the blue one tapping his foot impatiently.

Amy took a few deep breaths to regain her composure while gently pulling the web out of her hair, when she said tearfully, "How could you say that? 'It's just a web.' Look around you, this place is covered in webs!"

Indeed, the once beautiful landscape of the tropical island was now painted almost completely grey in webbings from the very small to the colossal. Yet, the boys remained undeterred.

"Amy," Tails explained, "we went over this with Blaze. She said this island was the base of the Gossamer Clan. It's a whole group of ninja spiders."

"SPIDERS!" Amy shrieked again, jumping over to Sonic and embracing him with a grip tight enough to cut off his circulation. "You didn't say anything about a bunch of spiders!"

"Amy… chill…" said a winded Sonic through gritted teeth. "They… only eat… other bugs… Gack!"

"They still creep the heck out of me," cried Amy as she let go of her protector.

"So," replied Sonic with narrowed eyes, "go back to Antoine and the others on Coral Cave Isle. If you can't handle spiders, then you should handle a group of bats."

"…Bats?" Amy sighed with relief. "Whew! Okay, I know Rouge the Bat, so maybe it's not so bad."

"Uh, actually" argued Tails as he scratched his nose, "I heard these bats are kinda ugly." This was not something that would amuse Amy; she made a pouty face at Sonic. All he could do was give her a sheepish shrug.

"Hey, guys?" called out Sally, who stood with Bunnie on a hill up ahead. "If you guys are taking a break, we'll just go ahead without you."

"I'm coming, Sal!" Sonic called back, hurrying away from Amy.

The pink she-hog gasped and protested, "Oh no you don't, Sonic the Hedgehog! You're supposed to be protecting me!"

As he watched her take off after her would-be beau, Tails shook his head with a grim frown. This wasn't going to be the walk in the park he had hoped for.

.

As the heroes trenched through the dense jungle, they came to a grand open plain where there were small markets and large circus-like tents in the area- all of which were roofed by thick spider webbings. Curious, the gang entered the market place, surprised to see fellow Mobians walking about in kimonos and other Japanese-style outfits.

"What is this place?" wondered Sonic out loud, passing by one table of cheap food after another.

"G'daye, mates!" welcomed a tall tan kangaroo at a weapon stand. "Welcome to Aracne's Market. Would you care for a kitana, or a pair o' sai?"

"No thanks," Sally shook her head. "We're just passing through."

"Sure thing, Shiela," smiled the kangaroo, "but while you're here why not enjoy the Gossamer Circus while it's in town?"

"A circus?" smiled Tails enthusiastically.

Sally was perplexed; "Are these ninjas we're dealing with, or acrobats?"

"Both," smiled the sunny kangaroo. "Ya see, these spider folk don't always plunder; they make a living out of showin' off their agility and whatnot. In fact, they're givin' a special performance in a few hours. I hear they got their Ribbon Mistress dancin', hoo-hoo-hoo! She's a stunn'r, that one!"

The boys turned to Sally, who shrugged, "Well, we might as well check it out."

"Ripp'r!" cheered the kangaroo. "Name's Walt Wallabee. 'Ere, I got some tickets for a fair price."

Sonic and Tails paid the man in Rings they had collected during their trek through the jungle.

.

Underneath the big spider-spun tent, a crowd of marsupials ranging from kangaroos, koalas, to wombats and even a Tasmanian Devil or too, gathered along with the Freedom Fighters. Sonic and company were just two rows above the front; Bunnie snagged a bag of popcorn before the show.

"This sure is strange," mused Amy as she took a seat in between Sonic and Sally. "I thought we came here to fight ninjas. Now we're gonna watch them perform?"

Sally replied, "Maybe Walt was right, maybe they're clan's not as strong as we thought."

"Maybe the Iron Queen's just usin' them t'scare us," guessed Bunnie who sat beside her.

"Oo, the show's starting!" whispered Tails excitedly, as the crowd quieted down.

As the lights faded to darkness, afew spotlights of blue and yellow took center stage, as did a troop of six spider ladies, all dressed in black from head to toe. Their faces were also covered by black veils; underneath, one could see that their flesh was pink. They also had red sashes wrapped around their waists like belts, and had they not come with two pairs of arms, one wouldn't suspect that they were of the bug race. They came tumbling onto the stage in the form of rolling balls, as the music began to play.

**Song: "Three Ring Nightfall" ("Carnival Night Zone" Remix)**

**Artist: Hadyn, from the album **_**"Project Chaos"**_

The spider ladies were all holding balls of red ribbon, which they would not unleash until it was time to cue the music's main rhythm. In the meantime, they showed off their acrobats through cartwheels, flips through the air, and ballerina twirls. Amidst their dance, the center of the stage slid open, revealing a trap door. Rising from the trap door was yet another dancer, one also dressed in black but with her top cut off from her belly, exposing her middle.

This one, the main dancer it seemed, wasn't a spider at all. It was a vixen, with crimson red fur. Underneath her faint dark veil was a tuft of skin-peach fur on her muzzle, matching the end of her tail. Her hair was a rusty reddish-brown and like Sally's it was pulled back into a small swoop at shoulder length. She had on an outfit stylized like that of a traditional Indian belly-dancer, but with long black sleeves cut from the elbow that extended at the cuff like that of a Japanese kimono. Atop of her head was a bright yellow hair bow, the ends of which stretched as far out as seven feet or more. All of that ribbon was pulled into a ball, just as the red ribbons of her fellow dancers. She came out standing on one toe, with her other foot pulled backward toward her spine, her tail curved the same way.

Then at last, her dance began; on cue with the music, she and her fellow dancers threw out their arms and unraveled their super-long ribbons. They flung them through the air, making them appear to be weightless as they spun and kicked about. And the longer the song played on, the higher they jumped and the stronger they spun, as if they were trying to mesmerize their audience.

One audience member was already spellbound; with just one look at her dark blue eyes, Tails was instantly smitten. "…wow…" he whispered in his gaze.

In the middle of the lady's dance, Bunnie couldn't help but whisper in Sally's ear, "Hey Sal… Does she look familiar to you too?"

Sally passed and squinted her eyes at the veiled vixen. "…Kind of. But… No, it can't be her. There's no way."

Then, during their finale, two spider ladies held out their hands and from their palms spewed a small thread of webbing. They latched onto the vixen, and with a great jump they hurled themselves over the balcony high above, and came back down to earth while the webs were thrown over the balcony to give lift to the vixen. They pulled her upward, making it seem like she had just been given the gift of flight. Her golden ribbon swirled around and around to make the illusion all the greater; this made the audience applaud. She spread her legs out in a perfect split, once, then twice, then three times, and the crowd went all the wilder.

"That's amazing!" cheered Tails.

"Way cool," smiled Sonic.

Amy jealously turned her head; "I've seen better."

Before they knew it, the song had ended and the red vixen came back down to earth to give a bow with her fellow performers. The audience rose to their feet in applause; many threw rose petals onto the stage. Amidst the rose petals, the vixen cleverly reached into her top, pulled out a pink slip, and tossed it into the air. It fluttered about until it landed in Sonic's hands, just as the vixen had planned.

Sonic unfolded the paper and read aloud, "Meet me in my dressing room in ten minutes."

"Dude!" gasped Tails. "You are so lucky; I wanna meet this girl too!"

"Okay little bro, you can come with," winked the blue boy.

Still showing jealousy, Amy crossed her arms. "What am I, chopped liver? Why can't _I_ meet this girl?"

"Fine, you can come too Amy."

"No, no. You go ahead and get an autograph or something. Just leave me behind, all by my lonesome."

"We're here too, Amy," said Sally beside her.

"Just go, Sonic!" said Amy, ignoring Sally and Bunnie. "Go and meet Miss Hot Stuff With The String. See if I care."

"Fine. Come on, Tails."

As the boys got up and started to walk away, Amy looked at them with a dropped jaw. "…You're just gonna leave me here? You're both a bunch of jerks!"

Sally and Bunnie exchanged looks of annoyance.

.

A nerve-wracked Tails followed closely behind a chilled out Sonic as they walked down a hallway toward a dressing room door with a golden star on it, labeled simply, "The Ribbon Mistress."

Sonic looked back at his little friend and noticed that he was grooming his bangs. "Dude, Tails, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine! Just fine… Why, do I look okay? Do I need to brush my fur back?"

"Well, no but-"

"Aw, I should've bought roses! Or a card, maybe. How else am I gonna get her autograph?"

"Tails!"

"Huh? What?"

"Heh-heh-heh. You're so nervous. Don't be; we're just gonna go in there, say 'hi,' ask her what she knows about the Iron Queen and whatnot. Okay?"

"Y-yeah, okay… But Sonic?"

"Yeah, bud?" asked the hedgehog as he knocked on the door.

"You… you think she's cool, right? I mean, on our side?"

"Can't say for sure, dude." Right after he said this, Sonic felt a cold hand grab his arm from behind the door. Tails was pulled in just as quickly.

.

The crimson red vixen slammed the door behind her as her admirers were still spinning from her pull into her room. Her outfit was less formal now, but her black top, mid-drift and baggy black pants were still present. Her long black sleeves were thinner now, with fingerless black gloves. Her yellow hair ribbon remained, though its super-long threads were now wrapped around her waist like a belt, and around her wrists like joint bracelets. Her black veil was gone though, showing her full face for the first time. She stared at them with a cunning smile before making her approach.

"…I'm terribly sorry about that, boys. Here, come sit down and make yourselves more comfortable." The red vixen pulled out a chair, gesturing to Sonic to sit down by a round table. He obliged himself, with Tails taking the seat right next to his.

The ribbon dancer sat opposite Sonic and introduced herself. "My name is Fiona the Fox. And yours?"

"Sonic the Hedgehog. Nice to meet you."

"And your friend's?"

"…fiona…" mused Tails, who was clearly hypnotized by her beauty.

"Heh, that's my name," she replied slyly.

Sonic softly kicked Tails in the ankle, snapping him out of his trance. "Woah! I- I mean Tails! M-my name is Tails."

"Oh… So I see," nodded the lady as she glanced at his twin tails. "That's… interesting." She then cleared her throat to readdress Sonic. "Hmm. So. You're new here to this island, aren't you?"

"Well yeah, sort of. I've been here before, I mean long before the spider gang showed up."

"You speak of the Gossemer Clan. They've taken me in and made me one of their own, while I was homeless and without purpose."

"Aww, gee that's sad," frowned Tails.

"Oh, don't worry about me, kiddo. I'm a survivor," she winked. "Anyway, I've invited you here, Mr. Hedgehog, because I have a very strong feeling that you're… special." As she said this in a soft, almost seductive voice, she leaned in on the blue boy. He pulled himself back in reaction.

"Um… well, I… I'm okay, I guess," he gulped.

"I know when someone's special," smiled the lady fox with a purr. "…Isn't there something really unique about yourself? Something so rare, it's almost impossible to find?"

"….Well, uh… Oh! Oh, yeah! I run really fast."

"…What?" her rouse dropped suddenly.

"Yep, they call me The Fastest Thing Alive!" he smiled proudly.

"You're a Speed Type?" she asked, plainly disappointed in her tone.

Sonic's eyes furrowed, sensing her change in attitude. "Um… yeah?"

"I can fly!" Tails spoke up, hoping he could impress the lady. But she was clearly no longer in the mood to flirt with anyone.

The vixen rose up from her chair, staring down at Sonic with frustration in her eyes. "You're telling me you're not gifted with the Healer's Touch."

Sonic shook his head. "Nope, sorry. I'm not."

Fiona turned around, pausing to rub her brow in deep thought. "…This doesn't make any sense. The Web of Fate clearly said that a colorful hedgehog with a Healer's Touch would come to our island."

Sonic heard this and perked up. "Oh! You mean Amy!"

Fiona turned back to him, looking surprised. "What?"

"Yeah, Amy Rose. She's a pink hedgehog, and she's a Heal-Type."

That only make Fiona all the more frustrated. "Augh!" she growled, holding onto her head as if pained. "I'm so stupid! I got the wrong one!" She stomped her foot, then noticed the concerned look in the eyes of her guests. She quickly calmed down. "…I'm sorry, I really am. I was hoping you'd be the one who'd… Nevermind."

"No, no! Go on," encouraged Sonic. "Tell us more."

"Yeah, tell us more Fiona," added Tails.

The vixen took a deep breath and sighed, "Like I said, I've joined the spider clan. I've been trying to study a special map they have called the Web of Fate; it's supposed to foretell certain things in the future."

"Yeah?" said an interested Sonic.

Fiona went on. "Well, I haven't interpreted everything yet, but I do know that one line of the web tells of a hedgehog with special gifts, one that can Heal people and even free those who've been imprisoned by, say…"

"Robotnik," nodded Sonic.

"Yes."

"Oh!" gasped Tails. "I get it now; you're looking for someone that can undo Roboticizing."

"Yes," nodded Fiona solemnly.

"So does this mean you're on our side?" asked Tails with a look of hope in his eyes.

All Fiona could say to that was, "…It's complicated."

The boys glanced at each other, then back to Fiona. "How so?" asked Sonic.

.

While their conversation went on within the room, someone was spying from the outside. Sally was surprised to see Amy having her left ear pressed up against Fiona's dressing room door. The squirrel playfully tiptoed up to her.

"Whatcha doing?" she whispered, giving Amy a scare.

"Gah! ….None of your business," Amy snapped back.

"Looks to me like you're spying."

"Ssshh! Sonic's in there. With that _girl_."

"Oooh," nodded Sally. "I get it. You're jealous."

"No I'm not, I'm just worried for Sonic…. And Tails."

"Uh-huh… Look Amy, I don't see what's to worry about. She's just a dancer, after all."

"Nuh-uh, listen." Amy coaxed Sally into joining her by the door. Sally wanted nothing to do with it at first, but then something within her gave in. She pressed her right cheek onto the door as Amy did her left side.

Unfortunately, in their haste the girls had unintentionally twisted the knob, and their combined weight was enough to push the dolor wide open. Both pink hedgehog and brown squirrel fell into the room on their tummies, with a startled trio looking on.

"Amy!" gasped Sonic angrily.

"Aunt Sally?" gasped Tails.

"What're you two…" started Sonic, until his attention turned back to Tails in curiosity. "…_Aunt_ Sally?"

Tails blushed. "Eh-heh-heh…"

While her counterpart was still on the floor, Sally was quick to crawl back onto her feet. "Sonic, I am so sorry. I tried to stop her, I really….!" She stopped. Her eyes widened.

Fiona's eyes widened, looking back at Sally's.

Their blood ran cold.

"Princess…!"

"_You_…!"

The red vixen then turned to the boys and smiled, "Gotta run, boys. We'll talk later." She then made a back flip for the window, then exited straight through it.

Meanwhile, Sally called out in the hallway, "Bunnie! Bunnie, quick! It's Fiona!"

"Fiona!" Bunnie cried out, as she came running down the hall and into the room on her rocket heels.

In her rush, Sally pulled out her magic thunder staff and huffed, "Come on Bunnie, we can still catch her!" Together, she and the cyber rabbit jumped through the open window after the red vixen.

"Wait! You girls…" Sonic started, but just like that, they were gone. "…know her?"

Sonic, Amy and Tails all glanced at each other with the same dumbfounded looks, then they shrugged and took off after their friends.

.

**-NEW TEAM!-**

**TEAM ACORN:**

**Sally Acorn (Speed Type)**

**Bunnie Rabbot (Power Type)**

.

**LOADING ZONE…**

.


	30. ARACNE ISLAND ZONE: Acorn, Brotherhood

**30. "Fox Chase"**

.

**-ARACNE ISLAND ZONE-**

**-ACT I-**

**Selected Team: Team Acorn (Sally and Bunnie)**

In the heart of this once peaceful paradise lied two levels. The upper level was the canopy, an endless highway of trees, leaves and vines- all remarkably grand in size. The ground level was almost completely dark, thanks to the canopy, but it was home to forests of giant red and pink mushrooms and sunray-petal flowers of pink and purple. But amidst the lush green plants were Badniks disguised as local creatures: the **Whisps**, for example, were disguised as flies but would crowd a warrior and try to sap their Rings away, instead of just floating around aimlessly. The monkey-like **Coconuts** as seen in Felidae were brought here with their ammo of steel spikeballs; they hid in the canopy. Then there were the spider-like **Grabbers** who would position themselves both in the canopy and on the ground level. As the Zone continued to push forward, more and more spider webs would appear, making the Grabbers feel right at home.

"Don't let her get away!" screamed Sally as she led the charge against Fiona Fox through the thick green jungle. Fiona was close behind her at first, but then she gained a sudden boost of speed and took off into the distance.

Sally zoomed left, right, left and center to grab lines of Rings that were in her path.

**Ring Count: 12**

Then she jumped onto a moving platform covered in moss to proceed to the higher ground, while still far below the canopy. She would have her first run-in with Badniks here, starting with the Coconuts that threw spike balls from giant flower tops. Sally spin-dashed out of their way and proceeded to jump onto another moving moss-covered platform. On the third level of earth, a swarm of three Whisps came floating toward her. She jumped on one then swatted the second two before they had the chance to latch onto her. Then Sally spin-dashed forward, straight into a large spider web that acted as a trampoline, launching her straight up into the canopy. But while in mid-jump, she managed to grab some Rings.

**Ring Count: 26**

At the surface of the canopy, Sally jumped from one treetop to the next, avoiding a new kind of Badnik, the **Metal-hawk**. It moved similarly like a Flybot of old, with its one objective to dive-bomb in corkscrew fashion. Only this was a bigger more formidable-looking bird-badnik. Sally had to double-jup to get through them, then she ran straight into a vine that loop-de-looped all the way down to the ground level, where the mushroom forest was hiding.

**Ring Count: 37**

"Tag me, sugah!" pleaded Bunnie from behind. When she came into play, Bunnie jumped on top of a mushroom, which acted like a soft cushion to bounce her over to the next one, then the next. She was able to collect six Rings from this.

**Ring Count: 43**

Bunnie jumped off of the third mushroom to grab hold of a vine dangling from the air, and used it to swing across a spike pit. On the other side, two SWATbots were standing guard, shooting lasers at her. Bunnie drop-kicked one, but was punched in the guy by the other.

**Ring Count: 0-12**

Sally grabbed some Rings before they all disappeared, but Bunnie was the one who would finish off the SWATbot before they pressed on.

Bunnie could see Fiona in the distance and boosted forward. "Get back here, ya two-faced varmit!" But Fiona proved to be too fast for the rabbit, and jumped up a tree to get away. Bunnie would have to spin-dash into the trees's corkscrew vortex to catch up with her; this took her back up into the canopy.

On the treetops, Bunnie ran along a thick green vine while trying to avoid both Whisps and Metal-Hawk as they came from left and right. She managed to hit some and dodge the others, before jumping onto a vine designed to be a rail to grind on. As it swooped her around and through the mid section of the jungle, Bunnie was blessed with a long line of Rings before she re-entered the bottom level.

**Ring Count: 38**

"Here I come!" called out Sally as she was tagged into play. She spin-dashed herself straight into a forest of mushrooms that proved to be too tall to jump on top of. All she had to do was veer to the far left or far right; with her momentum, she was out of that spot in no time and even managed to dodge a hidden SWATbot.

**Ring Count: 47**

Sally then hopped onto a small spider web trampoline, which launched her into another one, which sent her onto a path that was just a few feet below the canopy level. But this is where things started to get tricky.

As Sally spin-dashed forward, the jungle's leaf-green background started to become covered in spider webbing. She pressed on, but before she knew it she was snagged by a Grabber, which threw itself down on top of her and then sprung back upward to its roost on a tree branch.

"Help!" cried out Sally. Luckily Bunnie was quick to punch the Badnik to bits, freeing Sally before it made her lose her Rings.

"Yee-haw!" cheered Bunnie as she took the lead again. She jumped onto a tree branch that was shaped like a hand, and it carried her over a spike pit and onto the next path. Coconuts were about, throwing their little spike balls at Bunnie, but none of them hit her. Whisps were coming in, but she was quick to shake them off as well. But then suddenly, a Grabber came shooting down from way up into the canopy, and pulled her up there in its grasp.

"Help!" she cried out; Sally had to use a tree trunk's corkscrew insides to get to Bunnie, but was too late to stop the Grabber from self-destructing. It released Bunnie, but she had lost all of her rings.

**Ring Count: 0-15**

"Sorry," frowned Sally as she grabbed as many Rings as she could before they vanished. "No problem," smiled Bunnie, who let the princess take the lead.

Sally spin-dashed forward, jumping onto one Metal-Hawk and then swatting a second, then a third, with her staff. She then found a long, stretchy web which she used as a sling to shoot herself well into the air. As she flew, she veered left and right to grab rows of Rings that were lined up in course with her descent.

**Ring Count: 15… 18… 21… 24… 26**

Finally, on ground level, Sally could see Fiona running in the distance. When she caught up to her, the vixen pleaded, "I can explain!"

"Save it!" Sally shouted back, and tried to jump on her. She missed, and the vixen sped on.

Sally spin-dashed herself forward again, this time grabbing a long line of Rings, before both she and Fiona crossed the Goal post.

.

**-ACT I: CLEARED!-**

**Ring Total: 38**

**Bonus Points: 8,000**

**Level-Up! Sally can now use "Thunder Boost"**

**Level-Up! Bunnie can now use "Jet Thrust!"**

**Rank: A+ (Excellent!)**

.

**-ACT II-**

**Selected Team: Team Brotherhood (Sonic and Tails)**

By now, Sally and Bunnie had already passed through this Act; the boys were still lagging behind.

"Try to keep up," said Sonic as he took the lead. At first, he was on the ground level of the mushroom forest, but then he spin-dashed straight ahead, onto a vine path full of Rings that shot him straight up into the canopy.

**Ring Count: 10**

The canopy was now starting to look less leafy and more web-covered, and now on top of that, there were Spider Ninjas to contend with. The first three showed up here, each throwing shurikens at him. Sonic was just too fast and high a jumper for them though, and as he jumped on them, they simply fell onto their backs unconscious. As he whisked by them, he grabbed some Rings on his way to a vine rail, and absorbed even more as he zig-zagged his way back down to earth.

**Ring Count: 35**

Sonic kept the lead as he zoomed left, right, left, center and right through a maze of super-tall mushrooms.

**Ring Count: 35… 38… 41… 44  
**

But then he was forced to come to a screeching halt, as five Spider Ninjas, as well as two Grabbers dangling from tree branches, blocked his path. He could have spun past them, except there was a giant web walling his path, so he had no choice but to fight. Sonic dodged one shuriken after another, then jumped on the head of a ninja, knocking her out cold, then moved to the left to tackle another one. When suddenly, the Grabber on the far left made a diagonal jump and seized him.

"Help!" he called out; Tails was automatically forced into play and jumped up to destroy the Grabber, releasing Sonic.

Tails stayed in play and tried to fight off the last three ninjas on his own, but one of them managed to hit him with her star weapon.

**Ring Count: 0-10**

"Darn it," frowned Tails, as he and Sonic scrambled to salvage those Rings they could. But he soon redeemed himself by jumping onto the three ninjas' heads without getting caught by the second Grabber. Once the ninjas were defeated, the web wall disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"My turn," said Sonic as Tails tagged him into play.

Sonic zoomed straight ahead, until a tree branch shaped like a giant hand grabbed hold of him and tossed him into the canopy, where Metal-Hawks and Spider Ninjas were waiting. The hawk-like Badniks were no problem, but now the ninjas had armed themselves with chained sickles called kusarigama- a weapon far more appropriate for these web-slingers. Their chained weights did manage to hit Sonic-

**Ring Count: 0-5**

-but that didn't stop him from pulverizing them before he went on to jump straight into a Ten-Ring Box hidden in the tree leaves.

**Ring Count: 15**

Sonic spin-dashed straight onto a vine rail and grinded downward, then jumped onto another in loop-de-loop fashion, then jumped onto a third, this one carrying a ninja on it which Sonic jumped over on cue, and landed safely back into the mushroom forest.

**Ring Count: 39**

Seeing a bunch of Spider Ninjas coming armed with their chains and sickles, Sonic tagged in Tails. "Alright!" he cheered, and with his flight ability the fox boy sailed straight over them, and snagged the Rings that were floating over the ninjas' heads.

**Ring Count: 44**

Tails then jumped onto a web trampoline, which launched him into the mid-section of the forest. He dashed into a tree branch that normally would have guided him forward, except this one was a trap that launched him in the opposite direction. He stopped himself before falling down the cliff, and decided to sail over the tree with his tail propellers. Once past that obstacle, he flew over a spike pit, but just on the other side was a Grabber that seized him.

"Help!" he cried out, forcing Sonic into play. Sonic gladly pulverized the spider Badnik, and took the lead.

Sonic dashed forward, past two more ninjas armed with shuiken, and zoomed through a loop-de-loop that shot upwards, then followed the path of a vine that took him straight downward into the mushroom forest. On the way, he snagged many more Rings.

**Ring Count: 71**

Sonic found himself walled by another giant spider web, with seven Spider Ninjas armed with kusarigama. Not to mention, of course, the two Grabbers present, each clinging onto a tree trunk that held the web together. But this time, Sonic was ready. First he tagged in Tails…

"My turn!"

…who cleverly floated over to each of the Grabbers and landed on them in the form of a ball, destroying them on impact. Then he tagged in Sonic…

"I'll take it from here!"

…who focused on the three ninjas on the front, seeing as how they struck with their weapons in unison. As soon as they threw out their chains, he jumped onto their heads one at a time, knocking them out cold. Then he waited for the next two to follow suit, and jumped on their heads. Before the last two could get the chance to attack, Sonic spin-dashed into one, then ricocheted into the other, hitting them in one fell swoop.

As the web wall collapsed, it was smooth sailing toward the Goal Line. Sonic wasted no time in dashing for it.

.

**-ACT II: CLEARED!-**

**Ring Total: 71**

**Bonus Points: 8,000**

**Level-Up! Sonic can now use "Sonic Boost"**

**Level-Up! Tails can now use "Tail Boost"**

**Rank: S (You've earned a Continue!)**

**Continue Count: 2**

.

While Tails was ready to move on, Sonic turned around at the sight of a bright yellow glow. "Well, well, well! Lookie here," he smiled at the Warp Ring.

"Sonic, come on! Aunt Sally and Aunt Bunnie need us!" pleaded Tails.

"Relax dude, they can handle it. Besides, we gotta get the Chaos Emeralds while we can. Let's go!"

Tails was reluctant at first, but as Sonic morphed into the warp, he felt he had no choice but to follow suit. And so, he jumped in.

.

**LOADING SPECIAL STAGE…**

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	31. SPECIAL STAGE 2: Sonic vs Fang

**31. "Getting the Nack"**

**.**

**- SPECIAL STAGE #2 -**

**Select Character: SONIC**

.

Sonic and Tails were weightless for a moment, as the atmosphere became gold and glittery. Then they landed on a path of yellow blocks that would blink pink randomly. All at once, they became familiar with their surroundings.

"Dude Sonic, this looks just like one of the old Special Stages from back in our world!"

"Yeah," nodded a bewildered Sonic.

"But with two new exceptions," purred a female voice.

Sonic and Tails looked up, and down from the sky floated their rivals, Rouge the Bat, and a lavender weasel-like creature with a cowboy hats, boots and brown leather gloves.

"Rouge the Bat," said Tails darkly.

"Yeah…" Sonic was more focused on the other character as he scratched his chin. "I think I know the other guy too. No-no-no, wait. Don't tell me, I know this one.. uh… Nick? …No, Nack. Nack! That's it, you're Nack the Weasel!"

The weasely lupine giggled, "Nack's jest mah alias name; the _real_ name's Fang the Sniper."

Sonic gasped at the she-bat. "Rouge! You're teaming up with this weirdo? How come?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you, cutie pie. Just know that we're here to race you for the Chaos Emerald at the end of the maze."

Sonic grinned, "Alright then, if it's a race you want you picked the wrong hedgehog to contend with."

The weasel then whispered to his accomplice, "Let me at 'im, doll-face. I've been wantin' to put this cocky blue varmint in his place fer years now!"

Rouge turned up her nose. "Oh, go ahead. He's not my type anyway."

"Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!" squealed the giddy fanged weasel as he stood next to his arch-nemesis at the starting line. "I might not have mah trusty rocket bike with me, but yer still gonna be eatin' mah dust, needlehead."

Sonic dipped forward in preparation for the go-ahead. "Bring it on, snaggletooth."

.

**TIME START: 00:02::00**

Their path started out straight and narrow, until a corner forced them to veer left. While Fang stayed on course, Sonic made a sharp turn to the right to pick up a Time Bonus sphere.

**Time Bonus: +15**

Sonic then hurried up after Fang, as the stage started to spin ninety degrees straight up. Sonic had to wall-jump, left and right and left again before coming to a ledge that put him back on par with gravity. He then came to a floor and ceiling of bumpers, which ricocheted him into a room littered with Rings. He snagged ten of them, but knew that this was only slowing him down.

**TIME LEFT: 00:01::34**

Sonic wall-jumped again, left, right, left and right, and spun into a hallway that was turning on its head. He freefell into another room full of Rings, but now he was starting to feel lost. Luckily, he trusted in taking the lower corner that would put him on the same path as his rival.

**TIME LEFT: 00:01::20**

On solid ground, Sonic used his Ring power to boost himself up to where Fang was. The weasel seemed to be doing well in navigating the topsy-turvy maze, so Sonic wisely followed his every move from here on in.

Both Fang and Sonic veered right, into another hall made up of bumpers and Rings, which carried them into a very wide and open room just as the maze was turning one-hundred and eighty degrees. They each rolled into balls of fur and tried to let gravity take them to the next corner, only now there was a fork in the road. Fang veered left and grabbed a Time Bonus sphere, while Sonic veered right and found the hall that would draw him closer to the emerald.

**TIME LEFT: 0:00::43**

The room stopped spinning just in time for Sonic to boost his speed up. Only one fork in the road remained. He steered left, but went into a dead-end. Fortunately, he was well ahead of his rival and backtracked quickly enough to stay in the lead. From there, it was just a hop, skip and long dash for the finish line.

**FINISH!**

**TIME LEFT: 0:00::29**

**RING COUNT: 35**

.

"Yipee-kai-yai-yay, mother-_oof_!" Sonic cheered, just as Tails tackle-glomped him from the side. "You did it! You did it, Sonic! I knew you'd get it," cheered Tails.

Meanwhile, Nack- or Fang- was getting a much different reaction from his bat accomplice. Rouge fluttered over to him and growled, "You idiot! How could you miss that last turn? That emerald was as good as ours!"

"Well excuse me fer livin'. You didn't get the last emerald either, so nyah!"

"I came closer than you did, you buck-toothed loser!"

"I'd like t'see you try an' beat Sonic, Miss Prissy-Pants!"

"Smug slowpoke!"

"Bratty bat!"

"Under-achiever!"

"She-devil!"

"Worthless waste of space!"

"Bat-spit crazy!"

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"Leave my Mama outta this!"

While they argued, Sonic and Tails made a slow, awkward-feeling exit toward the portal. Sonic at least tried to get their attention, but to no avail. "Okay, I'm gonna go now! ….Try not to stop me! ….Here goes the emerald, it's going, going…? …Eh, heck with it." Then he walked out of the portal while the badgering losers badgered on.

.

**- YOU'VE GOT A CHAOS EMERALD! -**

**Emeralds Obtained: Yellow**

**Emerald Bonus: 10,000**

**Time Bonus: 2900**

**Ring Bonus: 3500**

**Total Points: 16,400- Continue Granted!**

**Continue Count: 3**

.

**LOADING…**

.

**Aracne Island Zone, Act II.**

At the edge of a very high and steep cliff overlooking the sea, Fiona skidded to a halt. She turned around, and faced the wrath of Sally Acorn and Bunnie Rabbot.

"I- I can explain everything. Really!" she pleaded.

"Then why are you still running?" growled Sally as she balled her fists.

Feeling trapped, Fiona narrowed her eyes. "…Fine. Have it your way."

.

**-MINI-BOSS FIGHT: vs. Fiona Fox-**

**Song: Mini-Boss Theme Remix, from "Sonic 3 and Knuckles"**

Fiona opened the battle with a long twirl of her ribbon strings, a move which she dubbed "Ribbon Dance," during which the strings acted as whips. Bunnie too a hit, but both she and Sally scrambled to grab the Rings.

**Ring Count: 7**

Fiona then stood still as she lashed out her ribbon as true whips this time; Sally took the lead and double-jumped out of the way. She then did a sliding kick with her staff sticking out, and hit Fiona in the gut. She took the shot and doubled over for a second before recovering.

Sally then double-jumped out of the way of Fiona's high karate kicks before Bunnie came back into play. Bunnie tried to launch her robot fist at the vixen, but Fiona blocked it by using her ribbon as a shield. Again, another punch was blocked by the shield, so Bunnie paused for Fiona to counter-attack. When she did, she performed another "Ribbon Dance" and started spinning in circles that would have hit Bunnie, had she not jumped out of the way in time. Then when Fiona stopped, Bunnie made a quick long-punch to Fiona's head, and she took the hit.

Next, Sally tagged in and did her own spinning kick to Fiona's head. The vixen couldn't dodge it quickly enough, but after taking that hit she started to move even faster. She dashed left and right, then double-jumped in the air and neatly hit Sally. She then lashed out her ribbon strings again, but Sally double-jumped out of the way and came falling onto the vixen's head. Without hesitation, Sally did another sliding kick to her enemy's gut.

Fiona fell back, but still had one hit left to take. She lunged at Sally with a furious "quick step" attack during which her kicking leg came flying so quickly it almost looked like there were three at once. Sally tagged in Bunnie to dodge the attack, and the Rabbot did a high jump over Fiona and landed cleanly on her head. The vixen went down, defeated.

.

**-MISSION: CLEARED!-**

"Yee-haw! We did it, sugah!"

"We make a great team!"

.

As Sally and Bunnie looked over their former ally, a ripple in the air opened up a warp from the Special Stage. Sonic and Tails jumped out, having defeated Team Gold-Diggers. "Man, I do_ not_ wanna see how the honeymoon turns ou—Oh! …He-e-y-y…"

"Fiona!" Tails called out with a horrified gasp, running to her side.

"Tails, get away sugah!" warned Bunnie, but was too late to stop him.

Sonic snapped his fingers. "Dang it, I missed another girl fight!"

Angered, Tails turned to his "aunts." "What did you do to her?"

"We had to stop her from escaping," Sally explained as Sonic walked up to them, placing the yellow Chaos Emerald somewhere within his quills.

"Why?" he asked. "What did she do?"

"She sold us out, that's what she did!" growled a vengeful Bunnie with a raised metal fist.

"No," Tails denied. "She couldn't have."

"It's true," frowned Sally. "She was part of our team back in the Acorn Kingdom, before we fled into the forest… Fiona disappeared one day, and then soon after that we were surrounded by SWATbots. Half of the team was captured, including Bunnie. We found out sometime later, that Robotnik discovered our hidden base from a 'messenger.' And since no one else knew about us, we knew it had to have been Fiona."

"But," Tails argued, "she was just telling us that she needs a Healer. She must be trying to save Marine!"

"Ya can't believe anythin' that ol' back-stabbin' witch says," Bunnie declared. "She's the reason why Ah'm half-robot now…"

"You don't know that!" Tails argued.

"She hasn't denied it," Sally replied solemnly.

There was a pause before Amy Rose came running into the scene. She had been following after Sonic and Tails, but just wasn't fast enough to keep with their pace. The group watched and waited for her to catch her breath. Finally, Amy took a long, deep breath and smiled, "…Okay! What'd I miss?"

"Uh, you missed pretty much everything Amy," replied Sonic with a half smile.

Amy then looked down on the unconscious red vixen. "Hey, isn't that the ribbon dancer?"

"Yes," nodded Sally. "And, she's a former Freedom Fighter. She turned her back on us, and most likely sold us out to Robotnik."

"…HA! I knew it!" Amy cheered as she whipped out her Piko-Piko Hammer. "Let me at 'er! I'll give her one for the team!"

The pink she-hog marched forward, but was blocked by Sally and Bunnie. "It's okay now Amy," Sally tried to explain, "we've beaten her already."

"No need t'get violent now, sugah," added Bunnie.

But as they struggled over the hamer, Fiona's eyes fluttered open. She was quick to recover when she saw the person she had been seeking standing so close to her. "…The pink hedgehog," she winced. As the others took notice of her, Fiona jumped to her feet and declared, "You're coming with me!"

Quickly, Fiona threw out her yellow ribbon, and it wrapped itself around Amy from her feet to her face, even acting as a gag for her mouth. Before Amy could react, she was pulled to the vixen, who scooped her up and threw her over her shoulder.

"Fiona, don't!" Tails pleaded.

But the red vixen declared, "Sorry kid, this is personal." With that, she let out a loud whistle, and pink spider girls clad in all black came flying and jumping in from all corners. The spider ninjas surrounded Fiona, then one of them threw a smoke bomb onto the ground. With a great **"Poof," **smoke enveloped them, causing the heroes to pause and cough for air. When the smoke cleared, Fiona, Amy and the spiders were all but vanished.

Tails ran to the spot they were standing in, totally heartbroken. "But… But she said… she was on our side."

Sonic paused to scratch his ear. "…What could they possibly want with Amy?" he wondered.

"Nothing good, I'm afraid," frowned Sally worriedly. "We need to start searching the other islands. There's no telling where they went from here."

.

**Coral Cave Zone.**

In a dark, dank cave that smelled of saltwater, Amy Rose was carried in over Fiona Fox's shoulder, still wrapped up in the vixen's golden ribbon and struggling for freedom. Even her mouth was sealed in ribbon, so that she couldn't protest outwardly, save for her gruffs and mumbles.

Fiona then genuflected, as did a small band of spider ladies around her. "Master," said the vixen, "I have brought you someone very special, someone who can help swing the battle in our favor."

Fiona then loosened the bonding ribbon, freeing Amy. As the pink she-hog still kicked and punched in fury, Fiona's eyebrows furrowed. "Relax, they're not going to hurt you."

"No? Well, I can still hurt YOU!" yelled Amy, as she raised her hands in the air to make her Piko-Piko Hammer magically appear. She swung it down on Fiona, but the black-clad vixen quickly stretched out a line of golden ribbon to block it.

"What?" gasped an amazed Amy, seeing that her hammer couldn't even bend the ribbon. "But… How did you?"

"This ribbon is made of pure spider silk," explained Fiona. "Nothing can break it." She then gave Amy's hammer a push backward, making it disappear.

Amy took two steps back, pausing with fear. "…Whatever you're gonna do, my Sonic will get here and he'll-"

"Sssh. Please, lower your voice," whispered Fiona as she and her fellow ninjas fell to their knees with their hands clasped in prayer. "You are in the presence of Her Excellency, The Bride of Endless Reach."

Confused, Amy turned around. Then, for the first time, she realized that she was standing right in front of a line of stone steps, and on top of them was a throne chiseled from coral, complete with a circular orb with a spider web symbol on it. And sitting on that throne was the tallest, most intimidating she-spider Amy had seen yet. The spider queen's eyes were shut, and all six of her hands with clasped as though she were meditating. But as passive as she seemed, her presence was enough to overwhelm Amy.

The pink girl fell to her knees as she stared up at the ninja queen, both perplexed and very much intimidated. "Oh, Sonikuu…. Wherever you are, please help me."

.

**-NEW TEAMS!-**

**FIRE AND REIGN**

**Blaze the Cat (Speed-Type)**

**Monkey Khan (Flight-Type)**

**ROAD RAGE**

**Rotor the Walrus (Swim-Type)**

**Shadow the Hedgehog (Speed-Type)**

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**LOADING ZONE…**


	32. CORAL CAVE ZONE, SPECIAL STAGE 3

**32. "Sink or Swim?"**

.

"_Sally Acorn calling Blaze the Cat! Come in, Blaze, this is an emergency!"_

While sitting beside Monkey Khan on his magical cloud, Blaze was patrolling the smaller islands scattered around Southern Island Zone when Sally's call came in. Blaze had on her belt a small circular communicator, which she promptly picked up.

"Blaze here. What's the situation, Sally?"

"_Amy's just been kidnapped by the Gossamer clan. You wouldn't happen to know where there base is, do you?"_

"Hmm. I know they've been most active on Plant Kingdom Isle, but the Coral Caves aren't far from there. That would be my best guess."

"_Alright, we'll meet you there. Sally out."_

Also patrolling the shores at the time were Rotor and Shadow, each using jet skis for transportation. But of course, Rotor has souped them up, remodeling and accessorizing them after notable Eggman flunkies. His own was silver and round, dubbed "The Bocoe," while Shadow's was longer, thinner and golden, dubbed "The Decoe."

Blaze and Monkey Khan floated over to them, as they happened to be nearby. She called out, "Boys, we've got news! Amy's been taken by the spider cla, most likely at Coral Cave Zone."

"Hmph," huffed Shadow. "Leave it to Rose to let herself be captured."

"This sounds bad, Shadow," frowned Rotor. "We should help out."

"Of course," said the black hedgehog smugly. "I'll be the one who rescues her before that Faker even comes close." He then pressed his foot down on the left pedal to move his boat faster, way ahead of Rotor's.

.

**-CORAL CAVE ZONE-**

**-ACT I-**

**Selected Team: Road Rage (Shadow and Rotor)**

There were two roads to take in the deep, dark blue caverns of Coral Cave. These boys were about to take both of them: the water tunnels, and the walkways made of coral and blue sand rock. Nevermind the fact that the place was crawling with Badniks such as **Crabmeat**, **Seadra** and **Octar **(crab, seahorse and octopus Badniks, respectively), but there were also path-twisting remnants of coral mining still remaining, such as cart tracks and oversized pickaxes. Needless to say, the boys were jet-skiing straight into trouble.

"Let's get this over with." Shadow revved up his golden jetski before charging into the lead, straight into the gaping mouth of the cave without fear.

While flying through the first of many winding tunnels, Shadow followed the patterns of ring lines that were either darting far left or far right. He was also careful to steer clear of the giant coral stalactites that pierced out from the walls.

**Ring Count: 5… 10… 15… 20**

Before he knew it, Shadow's jet ski was snagged by a hook on a chain that lifted it onto a runway of blue rock. Luckily for him, Rotor armed his jet ski with wheels underneath to give it movement of solid ground. With a boost, Shadow's Decoe took like a bullet across the runway, through two loop-de-loops and a straight-down plunge back into the water, proving too fast for some floating Seadras to shoot their pellets at.

**Ring Count: 35**

Splashing into the water, he nearly collided with a hidden Octar, which used its tentacles as propellers to lift itself from the water to the air. Shadow dodged its bullets, but nearly missed the tunnel he was aiming for while doing so. He collided into the wall, but didn't take any damage from it. This slowed him down, and he was soon shot from behind by the same Octar.

**Ring Count: 0**

"Blast it!" he growled, but then he boosted his vehicle forward to slide across the water, through the winding tunnel, and straight into a new line of rings.

**Ring Count: 10**

During the tunnel run, shadow was careful to notice that the coral stalactites were all on the ceiling; they would change their positions later…

"Tag me!" called out Rotor from behind, but Shadow ignored the request as he activated the jet ski's "jump" move set to leap onto another runway of sand rock. There, he rolled up a steep climb, and straight across to a hook chain that pulled him to a higher level, to grab more rings and run down two Crabmeats.

**Ring Count: 25**

Then Shadow rolled onto a bounce lift that took him on a windy ride across a rail made of coral. As his Decoe went into autopilot mode, Shadow took aim at the fluttering Seadras that dared to shoot him down. He hit four, but missed the fifth and a sixth managed to hit him.

**Ring Count: 0**

As Shadow's Decoe was sent shooting from the rail and back into the water, it made a great splash. That's when the hedgehog decided to tag the walrus into play.

"Here we go!" cheered Rotor on his Bocoe. As it turned out, his vehicle was slightly slower, but more efficient in its turns. This proved most useful, as he sped through another dark tunnel, where spikes were now shooting from the sides of the walls. Rotor steered left, left right, right, center, then right again, to make up for lost Rings.

**Ring Count: 5… 10… 15… 21… 24**

In the next room, the ocean floor was covered in coral, so the jet skis had a harder time to navigate. Not a problem for Rotor; his vehicle has a "super-jump" addition to its normal move sets. Once he came across one coral barrier, he hit a button that acted as the Bocoe's double-jump move, then used it again on another barrier, then a third time on the top of a fallen stalactite to make way onto the next platform.

"Let me show you how it's done," said Shadow as he was tagged into play. Being on the faster vehicle, Shadow boosted himself forward, straight up a ramp and through three consecutive loop-de-loops and caught onto another coral rail.

**Ring Count: 44**

While on the rail, the Decoe went into autopilot again, making Shadow free to shoot at more fluttering Seadras. This time he was more efficient in his targets; all seven Seadras exploded on impact with his gun pellets.

As the Decoe splashed into the water once again, it was clear that it was headed into another dark and treacherous tunnel. He tagged in Rotor on the Bocoe; "Alright!" cheered the walrus.

Skimming across the water, Rotor was careful to dodge the ceiling and the walls, which now had longer spikes as well as hidden Octars shooting pellets at him. At one point, he had to push his vehicle downward, into the water, in order to dodge a serious attack from the octopus-shaped Badniks. But it worked, and he was rewarded for his efforts in Rings.

**Ring Count: 62**

As he exited the tunnel, Rotor's vehicle was snagged by a chained hook, and lifted onto a platform. He tagged in Shadow to make the run go faster; "Out of my way!" yelled the hedgehog.

Shadow boosted himself so quickly across the runway that he missed an opportunity at a coral rail; no matter, he entertained himself by running down some Crabmeats and using a ramp to fly into two Seadras on his way back down to the water. He saw another tunnel up ahead, only this one had spikes that were spitting out through the walls.

"Chaos Control!"

**Ring Count: 12**

Shadow managed to bypass the treacherous obstacle, at the cost of fifty Rings. But now he and his tag partner were nearing the end of the road, into a room where there seemed to be a dead-end. It was also home to the Ghost Squid- or at least, what was left of the once dangerous Badnik. It was basically an oversized, green-colored Octar, but now it was rusty with only five working tentacles. To reach the Goal Post, the boys would have to fight.

Shadow started by rotating his vehicle around and around, careful not to let the Ghost Squid's tentacles pin-point him and slam down on him. But at the same time, he needed to be wary of the four Seadras that were flying around, shooting pellets from their beaks. Once Shadow's Decoe "jumped" out of the way of the first tentacle, it came slamming down on top of it, smashing it.

"My turn!" said Rotor, as he was tagged into play. Rotor was a more patient player, letting the Ghost Squid's four remaining tentacles spin around until, they tired. Then he made a move by "jumping" onto the nearest one, just barely missing a shot from a Seadra.

"Amateur," growled Shadow, as he came into play with his guns ready. He took time out from the main fight to focus on the Seadras that were floating around him like moths to a flame. Though he was also careful not to get hit by the spinning tentacles of the Ghost Ship, his focus was clearly on the smaller nuisances. Nevertheless, one Seadra managed to shoot him from behind.

**Ring Count: 0-5**

"Damnit," grumbled the hedgehog, as he and his partner managed to grab five Rings before they disappeared from sight. But once that happened, the Seadras all but flew away.

The Ghost Squid's three remaining tentacles all grabbed onto Shadow and his Decoe, and dragged them underwater. This proved fruitless, because even underwater the jet-skis were manageable. Shadow had no problem in shooting down the third squid arm, and quickly tagged Rotor into play afterwards.

"Here we go," smiled the walrus as he charged his Bocoe straight into the second to last tentacle as it tried to slink away. Then without wasting any more time, he sped the Bocoe toward the last remaining arm of the robotic squid, and as it rose back to the surface, so did he. Rotor's Bocoe "jumped" out of the way of the massive green arm, and landed on top of it with a finishing blow. As the creature sank to the bottom, Rotor rose to the top and through the Goal Post.

.

**-ACT I: CLEARED!-**

**Ring Total: 5**

**Bonus Points: 65,000**

**Rank: B+ (Not Bad!)**

.

**-ACT II-**

**Selected Team: Fire and Reign (Blaze and Monkey Khan)**

While the cave was massive, it wasn't unfamiliar territory for Blaze. She was well aware of the snaky tunnels, the gigantic mining tools, and the Badniks that followed. "This will be easy," she boldly stated.

As Blaze tore across a plain of blue sand rock, she left a trail of fire in her wake. Up a steep hill she dashed, followed by a straightforward run leaping over three Crabmeats and through two unsuspecting Seadras, before looping through two loops and straight across a pool of water, all the while snagging a hefty amount of Rings.

**Ring Count: 20**

She double-jumped onto a fallen stalactite rock and onto the next open plain, where she bounced over two floating Octars and three Crabmeats before any of them had a chance to attack. She then tagged in her partner, Monkey Khan…

"Allow me!"

…whose double-jump activated his magical nimbus cloud, and with it he floated straight up, bypassing a stream of spiky traps and more Badniks. He then jumped off the cloud and onto a rail of coral, and slid on its twirling path while grabbing ahold of some more Rings.

**Ring Count: 35**

As he jumped off the rail, he jumped again to form his lucky cloud, and with it he sailed across a pool of water where some Chompers were waiting underneath. Bypassing that obstacle with flying colors, he landed safely on solid ground and took off in a dash. Even on land, he made a trail of cloudy smoke under his feet, which only grew as he spin-dashed up a hill and onto a falling mine pike that carried him downward onto another platform. There, he landed onto a mine cart and pushed it forward, into a tunnel where more Rings were waiting; all he had to do was veer left or right to follow the correct train track.

**Ring Count: 40… 45… 50… 55**

Ken then jumped out of the cart, just as it was coming out of the tunnel and falling straight down a pit, and tagged in his princess.

"Fire away!" she yelled as she took off in a blazing dash, skimming the top of a pool. Then, by bouncing onto a floating Octar, she ricocheted onto the next set of dry land. From there, it was a dash upward, loop-de-looping twice, and then straight into a hook chain that carried her to the highest level of the cave.

**Ring Count: 75**

Blaze spin-dashed through a row of Crabmeats and barely missed getting hit by the Seadras shooting at her from above. Then her path led to a great and steep water slide, making her fall almost straight down into the deep pool below. This time, she couldn't run across the water and sank almost to the bottom. Luckily for her, she could swim, and as she did she made a mad swim-dash through the oncoming Chompers that dared to come swimming her way. Then she made it to the edge of the pool, where a bouncer was waiting to send her straight up into the air. As she did, she snagged the Ring cluster floating above…

**Ring Count: 87**

Then upon landing, she tagged her partner. "Allow me!" he insisted as Ken took off running.

Ken ran across the platform, kicking up small smoke puffs in his wake, before coming to a spike pit at the end of the turn. He double-jumped into his lucky cloud and it carried him straight up and over the pit; like Tails, he had a limit to his air time, so when the cloud evaporated, he double-jumped into another one that lifted him over another steep hill climb. He barely missed the coral rail as he came to the top of the hill;one more double-jump made the rail that much easier to get to. While on it, he was careful not to get hit by the passing Seadras; with his staff, he blocked their shots while spinning and winding down the Ring-littered rail.

**Ring Count: 134**

He was making all of this look too easy; Blaze was no exception. Once Ken landed into the water, he tagged in the cat princess, who wasted no time in darting through the pool and smiting the Chompers within. Then it was just a double-jump into an Octar and ricocheting back onto dry land.

Now it was Blaze's turn to take a cart ride; she jumped into a mine cart and it went wheeling down a steep hill and straight into a dark tunnel. This time, there were small pits to jump over, which she did using her "jump" move while still in the cart. She also had time to veer left and right for more Rings, while dodging Seadras that tried to fly into her path.

**Ring Count: 141… 156… 161… 167  
**

As Blaze came out of the tunnel, another deep chasm was waiting at the end of the track. She jumped high, but not far enough, and went freefalling down into a small pool, just barely missing a spike trap. She would have tagged in Ken at that time, but she knew his cloud magic was useless in the water, so she would have to swim for shore herself.

Blaze made her fire-dash in the pool, but instead of causing fire, it instead let out a stream of smoking hot water; the Chompers in her path had no chance. But once she reached the pool's edge, she jumped out of the water and straight into a whole army of Seadras and Octars.

"TEAM-UP!"

**Ring Count: 67**

At the cost of one-hundred Rings, Blaze and Ken summoned up their elemental powers, causing a "Fire Storm" that rained small fireballs down on their enemies, neutralizing them in one fell swoop. From there, Blaze hauled tail and burned rubber straight for the Goal Post.

.

**-ACT II: CLEARED!-**

**Ring Total: 67**

**Bonus Points: 12,000**

**Rank: S (You've earned a Continue!)**

**Continue Count: 3**

.

"Whew… That was almost fun," said Blaze as she wiped a little sweat from her lavender brow.

"_Almost_ fun?" laughed Rotor. "You made that look too easy!"

"…Look." Shadow's attention fell onto the giant Warp Ring that appeared out of nowhere.

"What is it?" asked Ken curiously.

"A Warp Ring," said Blaze. "Maybe it will lead us to Marine."

"No, Blaze, wait!" Shadow tried to warn her, but she and Ken jumped into the vortex before he could stop them. He and Rotor would have to wait for the outcome in the real world…

.

**- SPECIAL STAGE #3 -**

**Select Character: BLAZE**

.

Blaze and Ken immediately felt disoriented as they found themselves weightless and being pulled into a void where everything was blue and glittery, including the blocky ground that shimmered between blue and purple lighting. And as if that wasn't strange enough…

"It's _my_ turn now!" declared Rouge the Bat, as she and Fang the Sniper came fading into the scene while pulling and pushing each other out of the way.

"Mine! I call dibs!"

"I saw it first, and you had your turn already!"

"You're not as fast as me, you…"

The two of them stopped to notice their new competition, and composed themselves. "Ahem," smiled Rouge to Blaze. "I take it you're one of Sonic's new friends?"

Blaze narrowed her eyes at the weasel and bat. "And just who are you?"

"And what is this place?" asked Ken.

"This here's a Special Stage," replied Fang while tipping his hat politely. "If yer here, then you gotta race one of us to th'Chaos Emerald at the end of th'line."

"A race, huh?" Blaze purred. "Fine then, you're on."

Rouge stepped forward while thrusting her hip against Fang to push him back; "Out of the way," she huffed at him. "This is lady's work."

"Who said yer a lady?" muttered the weasel.

.

**TIME START: 00:02::00**

While Blaze was clearly at an advantage for her speed, she had never been in a Special Stage like this before. That would prove to be her downfall; as the maze began its first rotation, Blaze was already feeling disoriented and turned left when she should have turned right. Rouge had made the right turn and went well into the lead.

Blaze went flying straight into a small corridor, followed by a small room littered with Rings and bouncers. While tightened into a ball, she bounced in all directions before collecting all twelve Rings and back out of the room in the opposite direction. Then she fell straight down, as the maze rotated on its head, back onto the right track.

**TIME LEFT: 00:01::30**

Blaze then steered herself to the far right, where she was still on track but well behind the lead. She tried dashing forward, but all that did was make her fly straight into another room full of Rings and bouncers. She would have cleared it, had the maze not reversed its course and cause her to fall backward into the last hallway. She was already feeling frustrated, but pushed herself back on track.

**TIME LEFT: 0:00::56**

With no time bonuses yet under her belt, Blaze was feeling the pressure. She ducked down into a small hallway on her left side, which took her on the right path toward the center of the maze, where a Time Bonus was waiting within a pile of Rings. She managed to get it, but was still far off the lead.

**TIME BONUS: +15 Seconds**

Again, the maze spun itself on its head, causing Blaze to pause before making her next turn. This was certainly not boding well for her, but she pressed on and veered upward into the right corner's track, followed by a fork in the road which would have either led to another Time Bonus, or back on the correct course. Blaze veered left, and received the Time Bonus.

**TIME BONUS: +10 Seconds**

"I'm way ahead of you, honey!" called out Rouge, as she moved closer and closer to the Finish Line.

Dizzied but still determined, Blaze trekked on. The maze made one final mad spin before she finally lost control and fell helplessly into a dead-end, where there were plenty of Rings but not a single bonus.

**TIME LEFT: 0:00::10**

The time meter was now blinking and turned red, indicating the seriousness of her errors. Blaze curled into a ball and let the maze right itself before hurling back in the correct direction. However, once she managed to finally reach the final hallway, it was too late. Rouge the Bat made it to the end of the stage, with just two seconds left on the clock.

.

**FINISH!**

**TIME LEFT: 0:00::02**

**RING COUNT: 35**

.

"AH-hahahahaha! It's mine! It's a-a-a-all mine!" cheered Rouge, as she cuddled the blue emerald close to her chest while hovering in the air on her fluttering wings.

Blaze, Ken and Fang were all perplexed, unsure as to how a bat managed to outrun the fastest cat alive.

Then out of nowhere, Fang blurted out, "No fair, you cheated!"

"What?" gasped Rouge. "How could I have cheated that race?"

"You memorized the course, that's how!" accused the jealous weasel, pointing a finger at her.

Blaze cringed with anger as her mittens flared up; "Is that true? If it is, then you don't deserve that emerald, you treacherous rat with wings!"

Rouge kept her cool, especially since a Warp Ring appeared behind her. "Listen, I'd love to stay and defend myself, but I've gotta run. It's about time I got some fresh air from this place anyway. Later, kiddies!" Then she jumped through the ring and toward freedom before her enemies could stop her.

"Why, that no-good sneak," huffed Ken before he turned to his princess. "Are you alright, Blaze?"

"I'll be fine, once I find out where she's going. Come on, Ken, we've still got a ninja clan to deal with."

As the cat and monkey jumped through the Warp Ring, Fang tried to follow. But an invisible force field kept him at bay, as it always had since he first entered the Special Stage. He then watched as the ring shrunk down into non-existence.

"Aww, horseradish!" he cursed, throwing his hat onto the ground in frustration. "…NOW what'm I supposed to do, run the race all by myself? …Well, fine then! I never needed that tricky ol' she-bat anyway. They'll see! I'm not finished yet!..." He then felt compelled to sit down with his legs and tail curled up and put on a face of utter loneliness. "….They'll see…"

.

**- SPECIAL STAGE OVER! -**

**Emeralds Obtained: None**

**Emerald Bonus: 0**

**Time Bonus: 200**

**Ring Bonus: 3500**

**Total Points: 3700**

.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

.


	33. Her Tangled Web, Part 1

_The following chapter contains dialogue from Archie's _"Sonic Universe"_ story arc, _"Journey to the East"_ (SU Issue #13). Credit goes to Ian Flynn for selected scenes._

**.**

**33: "Her Tangled Web, Part 1"**

**.**

Shadow and Rotor patiently waited where they had crossed the Goal Line, when the portal to the Special Stage re-opened. The black hedgehog was already disappointed for not being the one to challenge the Gold-Diggers, but as he watched Blaze and Ken jump back into their world, he was even more distressed.

"What happened?" asked Shadow. "Did you get the Chaos Emerald?"

Blaze was rubbing her head, still dizzy from the experience. "…Huh? …Oh. I'm sorry, Shadow, there was a strange female bat that beat me to it."

Shadow frowned yet restrained from getting angry. "That was Rouge; she and I were a team back in our world, but it seems she's more interested in stealing jewels."

"What became of her and the emerald?" asked Rotor.

Ken replied, "I had seen the she-bat exit through a different portal than ours, taking the blue gem with her. The weasel is still in the Special Zone, I think."

"Hmph. Let him rot in there," murmured Shadow gruffly, as he turned and started down a shimmery blue tunnel of coral and sand rock. As far as he and the others knew, Rouge was creeping around somewhere; it was better to worry about her than Fang.

.

"Huff… huff… huff… huff…!" Amy was breathing heavily through her mouth while she ran frantically down a winding tunnel of the caves.

"…Get back here, you little brat!" huffed Fiona Fox, who with a few spider ninjas tailed Amy down the tunnel.

Amy hadn't the slightest idea where she was going; all she knew was that she had to get away from those creepy crawly spiders. She didn't notice that two of them were actually scaling across the ceiling just above her head, until they jumped down in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. She let out a scream.

Fiona skid to a halt behind the pink hedgehog, and though she was armed with her deadly spider web-woven ribbon, she didn't even consider using it. "It's no use, Pinky," panted the red vixen. "Come back with us."

"No way," gulped Amy as she armed herself with her Piko-Piko Hammer.

"Don't make us hurt you," warned Fiona as she balled her fists.

"Just you wait till my Sonikuu gets here. When he sees what you've done to me, he'll-"

_WHOOSH!_

In a great blue gust of wind, the spiders and vixen found themselves piled up on top of each other, stunned, with a blue male hedgehog standing atop of them like a victorious mountain climber.

"Really, Amy, _when_ I get here? I thought you'd give me more credit than that."

"Sonic!" cheered Amy as she hopped with glee. Then she tackled him off his mountain of victims and squeezed him tight. "I knew you'd save me, I knew it!"

Sonic winced in pain and tried talking through grit teeth. "Erggh!... ams… can't…. breathe…. Tails, save me!"

"Okay Amy, let 'im go," smiled the two-tailed fox as he floated into the scene from out of nowhere.

Amy obliged, letting Sonic get back on his feet, while Sally and Bunnie ran into the scene. "Wow, you guys got here fast! But how?"

"We were tipped off," said Sally with half her breath, "by Blaze the Cat. She and Shadow followed them here."

"Ugh," moaned Fiona from the bottom of the ninja pile. She struggled to her feet, but was helped by Bunnie who grabbed her by the scruff of her neck.

"Ah've been waitin' fer you, missy," hissed the rabbit. "Payback time!"

"Wait!" called out Blaze, as she, Ken, Shadow and Rotor ran into the scene from a different tunnel than Sonic's gang. "…Don't kill her. Not just yet."

"Ah'm not gonna kill 'er," Bunnie replied. "Ah'm jest gonna rough 'er up a little… And maybe skin 'er alive. Anyway, Ah'm definitely gonna rip up that stupid bow o' hers."

Fiona came back with a kick of her led into Bunnie's torso, making her lose her grip. Fiona then flipped forward and landed into a karate stance. "Don't. Touch. The bow."

Blaze, Ken, Shadow and Sonic all prepared for battle, when suddenly one of the spider ninjas yelled, "Enough of this!" All of the characters turned to the ninjas, who remained cool and collected. One of them spoke: "The Master knew these strangers would arrive here. She would like to speak with all of them."

"But," Fiona argued, "all we need is the Healer."

"Why do you need Amy so much?" asked Sally with a look of distrust in her eyes.

"That's none of your business," Fiona hissed at her.

The spider ninja then said, "We are wasting our time here. The Master's orders are clear: Bring them all to her lair."

With that said, Fiona had no choice but to give a nod in reply. Then she lowered her guard and motioned to the heroes, "This way."

Without anymore words, the group silently agreed to the terms, as long as there were no more threats.

.

"…So, attacking kidnapping my friends was the best you could come up with to get my cooperation?" asked Sonic, as he led the heroes behind their ninja tour guides. "Couldn't you just import a chilidog recipe?"

"Sonic," warned Sally, "this isn't the best time to make jokes."

"Who said I was joking? I'm starved."

"Be silent!" snapped Fiona, who led the whole group ahead. "…We're approaching the throne room of our heavenly Bride of Endless Reach."

Amy grabbed onto Sonic's arm for comfort as she whimpered, "I just tried escaping from this place. Why are we agreeing to this, Sonic?"

Sonic whispered back, "Just stay cool, Ams. If this Bride-chick cooperates, we might not have to fight these guys after all."

Before long, they came to an opening in the cave where a great staircase of rock led to a throne with a golden spider web emblem behind it, and sitting properly on her throne with her six arms folded in prayer was the queen of all spiders.

"I am The Bride of the Endless Reach, Bride to the House of the Gossamer Clan, She who knows the course of Fate, She who can obtain all things."

Blaze was first of the visitors to introduce herself as she placed her right fist against her left palm in respectful salute: "I am Blaze, Princess of Felidae, daughter of Queen Hathor and Master Guardian of the Sol Emeralds."

Ken was next, as he followed in her gesture; "I am Ken 'Monkey' Khan, high general of the army of Felidae, and assistant to Princess Blaze."

Next went Sally: "I am Sally, Princess of Acorn, daughter of King Maximilian and Queen Alicia, and leader of the Acorn Kingdom's Freedom Fighters."

"Yo," smiled the blue hedgehog leaning against a stalactite nearby, not even bothering with the salutes. "I'm Sonic."

"My name is Tails," smiled the two-tailed kit near the blue boy. "I'm with him."

"Would you guys please…?" Sally started, but was then cut off by the Bride of Endless Reach who said, "All introductions are welcome here. Please, continue."

"Ahem," went the black hedgehog, shooting a look at Sonic. "I am Shadow the Hedgehog, mercenary and hired agent of the special task force, G.U.N."

"Interesting," replied the Bride.

"…Um, I'm Amy Rose as you know," curtsied the polite pink hedgehog. "I'm the appointed Healer of my group."

Last but not least, the lavender walrus cleared his throat nervously. "Um, I'm Rotor the Walrus…. I build stuff."

"Wonderful," nodded the Bride. "You are all welcome here."

"Excuse me," frowned a suspicious Blaze, "but why would you welcome us, after we've trounced your minions?"

The Bride's eyes narrowed, as though she was offended. "Those 'minions' you speak of, are my daughters."

The Freedom Fighters gasped; "_All_ of them?" asked a stunned Sonic.

"Yes," nodded the Bride, "all of them. We are a spider queen, after all… But that is not the issue; we must explain our current situation: namely, The Iron Queen."

Blaze nodded in agreement. "Please, tell us. How is it that she's still alive, after all these centuries?"

The Bride of Endless Reach did explain. "The Iron Queen of old did indeed die long ago; this new one is a gifted mage whose mind, we believe, was warped by a dark force."

"Robotnik?"

"Perhaps. But this new Iron Queen is also very powerful, even moreso, after stealing the cyan Sol Emerald from its true Master. With it, she has overtaken our homeland, forcing us to join in her cause for global conquest."

"Wait," gasped Blaze, "if she has the emerald… then what about…?"

The Bride's eyes softened. "The emerald's chosen guardian? Captured, we're afraid. Captured, and locked in a prison of iron."

"No!" gasped a horrified Blaze.

Amy cupped her mouth, "Oh my gosh…"

"How awful!" frowned Rotor.

"Fiona, my child, you were there when it happened," said the Bride. "Explain it to them."

Fiona frowned, "She got to her… before I could save her. You see, the Iron Queen doesn't enslave people the same way Robotnik does; instead, she casts them in an iron shell with her power over earth and metal. We were hoping a Healer could reverse the spell." With that, she turned to Amy.

"So," Amy realized, "that's why you needed me… If you'd just tell me that, I wouldn't have escaped."

"I tried to," said Fiona as she narrowed her eyes. "You just weren't listening."

Sally and Blaze walked back to the Bride on her throne; the squirrel princess asked, "Majesty, if you're so against the Iron Queen, why have you been working for her?"

The Bride answered, "We are not as strong a clan as we once were, neither is the Shinobi clan. We have both waited for the day when reinforcements would arrive from afar, just as it has been woven in our Web of Fate."

"Web of Fate?" asked Sally to Blaze; the purple cat shrugged in equal confusion.

"Come, I will show you." With that, the spider queen rose from her throne and walked silently over to a small corridor in the corner, with Blaze and company following behind.

They came to a very small opening, where the largest spider web anyone had ever seen was draped along the wall. "You," said the ninja master, "are the first outsiders to look upon our Web of Fate, woven by our first Bride. Its strands foretell of what is to come- if you know how to read it."

"Ooh," awed Sally, Blaze and the team in awe.

"My latest child, Fiona, has only begun to understand its meanings; through careful study, she has interpreted the coming of 'an army from afar that will bring hope, and one with a Healer's touch.' And, as it was spun, so it has been done."

"Fascinating," said Sonic while his face still looked perplexed with confusion.

"Now wait just a minute," argued Ken as he approached the queen. "If you knew all of this, why haven't you shared your wisdom with everyone else? Why would you just let things happen this way?"

"It is _our_ web, woven by _our _bride, and read by_ our_ chosen. Furthermore, the web tells us of key moments to come, but not the road to take. We cannot use it for something so base as day-to-day tactics…"

"Well if you think I'm just-"

"AND furthermore, we believe this high general seems to forget that he is talking to the Gossamer Clan's Bride!"

"Ken, it's okay," Blaze assured him as she rested a paw on his shoulder, calming both his and the Brides' nerves. She then said to the ninja leader, "Please excuse him; he has a long family history regarding ninja clans."

"…We understand," sighed the spider queen. Ken, meanwhile, turned his head in a huff.

"Hmm… If I may?" Sally turned to her foxy foe, asking, "And just how was it that you've taken in Fiona, your highness?"

"She came to us," replied the Bride, "asking for a chance at redemption for a past misdeed."

Sally paused while her stare burned into Fiona's eyes. "…So, you _did_ betray us."

The red vixen bowed her head in utter shame. "It was a moment of weakness; I didn't realize what would happen. I…"

"Enough," announced the spider queen. "This discussion is not appropriate in our sacred halls; you must take it elsewhere."

Fiona tapped her fist to her palm; "I understand, Master." She then started to walk out, coaxing the others to join her. "…Follow me."

Blaze and Ken departed in one direction, the others in the direction of Fiona, leaving the Bride where she stood, beside the only other remaining symbol of her clan's honor.

.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

.


	34. Her Tangled Web, Part 2

_As with the previous part, this chapter contains a few lines written by Ian Flynn in _"Sonic Universe's" "Journey to the East," _Issue #13. All rights and credit to certain dialogue here goes to him._

**.**

**34. "Her Tangled Web, Part 2"**

.

Still within the deep heart of Coral Cave Zone, Sonic and his teammates- Tails, Sally, Amy, Shadow, Bunnie and Rotor- were gathered up by former Freedom Fighter turned ninja, Fiona Fox. Once Fiona was alone with her former teammates, Sally and Bunnie stood by with arms crossed and eyes narrowed. "Alright Fiona," said Sally sternly, "spill it."

Fiona took a moment to collect her thoughts and take in a deep breath before making her confession. She had a lot of explaining to do, since she had disappeared from the Acorn Kingdom a few months earlier. But in time, she finally said what needed to be said:

"You know all I wanted to be was a good, strong warrior…"

.

**Farm Valley Zone, six months earlier.**

"_Oof!" went Fiona, as she was sent falling into a haystack after getting kicked in the stomach by Bunnie. The rabbit, fully flesh and blood, stood by with a look of disappointment in her face._

"_Come on, sugah, I didn't hit ya that hard. Now try again."_

_At the time, Fiona was still wearing a yellow hair bow, except this one was much smaller and shorter. Also, she was wearing a short sleeved and short panted yellow bodysuit with a white stripe and zipper running down its middle, with matching yellow and white boots and long white gloves._

"I wanted so much to impress the others, but they were all one step ahead of me… So, I had to work harder."

"_Hyah!" went the vixen, as she attempted to make a dramatic drop-kick onto Bunnie's face. But Bunnie grabbed her foot in mid-jump, and threw her into yet another haystack, face first. "Augh!" moaned the red vixen._

"_Wanna take five fer now, Fiona?" asked a concerned Bunnie._

"_Ugh…. No!" groaned her opponent as she scrambled back onto her feet and struck a defensive pose. "Come on, hit me again!"_

_Bunnie was starting to worry for Fiona, but didn't hesitate to attack once more. This was all part of their combat training, of course, but Fiona had been in this mode for hours now, and was starting to look worse for wears. Still, she pressed herself forward, even if it meant being beaten by the yellow rabbit over and over again._

"Some said that I've pushed myself too hard," narrated present-day Fiona, "but I was determined to be the best. Days went by… Then weeks, until I was finally up to speed."

_Flashing forward to a few weeks, and we see a faster, stronger Fiona, still clad in yellow and white, racing against long-tailed Princess Sally through the Great Forest region. Both girls were reaching speeds up to twenty miles per hour; Sally had an advantage with being in custody of the purple Sol Emerald. However, as she zipped over logs, ponds and through trees, she was starting to notice a blue of red and yellow close behind her. _

_Suddenly, she and the fox were neck-in-neck. Sally smiled as she panted, "Wow! You're getting really good at this, Fiona. I'm impressed."_

"_Oh, please!" the vixen smiled back slyly, "You haven't seen nothing yet. Watch this!"_

_Fiona then made Sally slow down as she jumped clearly over her head, and gripped onto a tree branch and used it as a beam to boost herself into the treetops. From there, the red vixen scaled across one tree after another, causing Sally to pause in awe. "Wow…"_

_Fiona then made an impressive landing on firm ground, right at the edge of the forest, with the rest of the Freedom Fighters standing by and gasping in surprise. "The winner is… Fiona Fox!" alerted Rotor, who was keeping score of the girls._

_Fiona took a modest bow, but then looked upward to see what appeared to be dark clouds on the horizon at first, but then as they crept closer, it was clear that they were airships owned by the Dark Legion._

"Even with my intense training, I saw very little hope in us defeating Robotnik and his allies. I knew that if we couldn't beat them, we would be forced to join them… So, I took the initiative."

_Flashing forward again, to a time of two and a half months prior to the present, where we see Fiona Fox wandering through the main city of Robotropolis. Neither Badnik nor Robian stopped her as she seemed to casually walk along her path toward the main tower f the city, where she would meet Robotnik._

_Soon, she found herself kneeling before the madman's throne, while he sat on his revolving chair and playfully petting a robotic chicken. "So," mused Robotnik, "it's settled then. You tell me where I can find the princess and her emerald, and I'll agree to spare everyone else's life?"_

"_Those are my terms," nodded the fox solemnly, careful not to look him in the eyes just yet._

"_Well then? Out with it! Where can I find her and her rebels?"_

"_I'll tell you where Sally is, and only her…"_

"…"

"…_In Farm Valley Zone, on the edge of the Great Forest."_

"_Excellent," smiled the mad scientist as he patted his pet chicken's head. There was a calming pause between him and Fiona before he said, "Unit G-12, take her to the Roboticizer."_

"_What?" gasped Fiona in horror. "…But… We had an agreement!"_

_As a SWAT-bot came to seize her arms, Robotnik explained, "We agreed that no one would be harmed, Ms. Fox. I can assure you, the Robotization process is quite painless."_

_The last thing Fiona felt was being dragged away, screaming. "No… NO-O-O-O-O-O!" she howled, as soon her world faded into darkness by the echo of Robotnik's mad laughter._

.

"You tried to sell out Sally?" growled present-day Bunnie with a shaking robotic fist.

Fiona bowed her head; "I figured that if I sacrificed one life, it would save the multitude. Obviously, it was a tactical error on my part."

"Tactical error?" growled Bunnie as she rolled up her imaginary sleeves. "Ah'll show you a tactical error!"

"Bunnie! Enough," Sally alerted her, stopping the rabbit's rage. "Go on, Fiona."

Fiona started back up again with, "Anyway…"

.

**Southern Island, one month earlier.**

"The next thing I remember waking up to, was the sight of a special young Healer…"

_Metal-Fiona was at a loss as she stood before a small brown she-raccoon with two tufts of fur in the back of her head shaped like pigtails, and wearing a light green tank top with midnight blue shorts and matching green boots. A flash of warm cyan light surrounded her before she fluttered her newly rejuvenated eyes, and all at once Fiona was her old self again._

"_There ya go!" smiled young Marine the Raccoon. "Got yerself in a bit o' mess, did ya mate? Good thing I found ya when I did, strewth!"_

_Fiona rubbed her dizzied head. "Wha… Where am I?"_

"_You're in Southern Island in the Aquatica Kingdom, Sheila! Name's Marine; I'm the top Captain of these parts, I am! Found me this ol' island all by myself, I did! So, were you another one o' those scouting 'bots that ol' Eggman-Nega sent here, eh? Boy, I'd like to give him one for, just like the last time! …Well, anyway, welcome to my island mate! Ripper, ain't it?"_

"_Uh… wha?"_

"_Oy! Are ya still soggy after that toss-up we did just now? Croikey, I'll bet you're starved. Welp, come along then! I know a place where you can rest yerself up and we'll get ya top notch in no time. Follow me, matey!"_

_As Marine dragged the hapless fox across the beach, they came to a small straw hut full of food items inside. While Fiona was still looking dizzy and confused, Marine hopped across one end of the hut to another, grabbing all kinds of fruits and meat packs to use as cooking ingredients. All the while, her mouth ran faster than Sonic on a hot summer day; none of what she said met with Fiona's ears, and so she couldn't even think of what the little raccoon girl was saying at the time. All she could think about was seeing Robotnik, the Roboticizer, her would-be demise._

_All at once, Fiona fell to her knees and started wailing, tears falling like waterfalls from her eyes._

"…_Croikey! What happened?" gasped Marine as she noticed Fiona's hysterics. She ran to her side, wondering, "Was it something I said? Oy! Matey! Are you alright? Did you fall on something, or did something fall on you?"_

"_I… I don't… I don't know how to th-th-thank you…" sniffled Fiona pitifully, before she lowered her head to Marine's feet as though she were an idol. "You've saved my life… How can I ever repay you?"_

_Marine paused before smiling widely, "Pish-posh! No need to thank me, mate! I was just doing my job, being the Healer and all, jest like Blaze wanted me to."_

"…_Blaze?" sniffled the vixen._

"_Yah, Blaze! What, you never heard of Blaze the Cat? She's my best mate, we have all kinds of adventures together! Strewth! And oy, if yer lucky, maybe she'll come around sometime, then you can meet 'er!"_

"_I… I think I'd like that," gulped Fiona, still choking on tears._

"From that day on, I made it my mission to stay with Marine, to keep her safe. But I was still a novice fighter, and I was no match for what came next…"

_Flashing forward to one day later, where we see Marine on the beach sawing a board in half on a table for yet another project for her ship, the Ocean Tornado, which was docked just off shore. Fiona sat by, looking greatly concerned for her young friend._

"All I kept thinking about was Robotnik and the Dark Legion invading the islands. Brave as she was, I knew Marine didn't stand a chance against them. And no matter how much I tried to reason with her, she wouldn't listen… So once again, I made a drastic decision."

_While Marine was babbling on about her new surfboard as it were, Fiona snuck up behind her, and quickly gagged her with a cloth drenched with a knock-out serum. As Marine fell into a deep sleep, Fiona let her fall into her arms. "Sorry, Marine, but this is for your own good."_

_That same afternoon, Fiona carried Marine onto the Ocean Tornado and cast off for open sea sail…_

"I wasn't sure where we were going; all I knew was that any place would be safer than Southern Island. That would have been the first place Robotnik would have searched for her. But then…"

_As the Ocean Tornado drifted further out to sea, the waves kept rising and bobbing up and down to an almost violent rate. Something was disturbing the water, something much greater than a storm. Fiona ran to the front of the ship, and gazed in wonder at the even larger grey one sailing straight for hers._

_While she tried to steer the ship away, the grander one came upon hers like a whale on the verge on swallowing it whole. A trap door opened up in its front, and drew in the Ocean Tornado. Fiona was helpless at her steering wheel, and then everything went dark. Again._

_But this time, she opened her eyes to the sight of a spotlight on Marine, still knocked out cold, but some other presence was in the dark room. From what Fiona could see, a tall slim figure with a red dress with black stripes and bearing golden glowing eyes stared down at both her and Marine. The person's face remained hidden in the shadows._

"_Well!" purred the shadowed stranger. "It's not every day we get such rare gifts on our ship. You there! State your name."_

"_Uhh… F-Fiona?"_

"_Fiona. Are you the keeper of the cyan Sol Emerald?"_

"_I… I am," lied Fiona as she crawled toward Marine. "I'll let you have it, miss, if-"_

"_Miss? HA! You shall address me as your queen! For I am she, the Iron Queen of the Dragon Kingdom, reborn!" Fiona could see that she wasn't kidding; one look at the queen's mystical staff was enough to make her shiver in fear._

"_Uh! …M-my mistake, your majesty," she bowed slightly. "I'll let you take the emerald, if you'll spare me and my friends' lives."_

_The shadowed queen with the yellow eyes mused, "Heh. You _will_ give me the emerald, whether you offer it or not!" With a wave of her magnetic staff, the queen summoned up the Sol Emerald from within Marine's body. "Hmph! So, you lied about being the one guarding it," hissed the queen as she snatched the gem._

"_Please," begged Fiona on her knees, "spare her. I beg you!"_

_The queen's fiercely sharp fangs were bared as she smiled. "You _beg_ me! HA-hahaha! I like that; it's nice to have faithful subordinates. Very well then, I will make you an offer: serve me and my ninjas, and I will guarantee this young girl's life will be spared. She will, of course, remain in my custody, but no harm shall befall upon her. So, Fiona, will you serve your queen?"_

_Fiona, clearly disgusted by the Iron Queen's attitude, was still feeling trapped and at a loss. Reluctantly, bowed her head in defeat as the mad queen began to snicker._

"I was at a loss; without me to protect her, Marine would have surely been killed…"

.

"…so I turned to the one ninja clan I could trust, the Gossamer clan, who were kind enough to take me in and retrain me as one of their own. I've been acting as a double-agent ever since, always making sure that Marine was still alive, and able to be rescued."

The cavern fell silent as Fiona, clad in black in her present-day form, finished telling her side of the story. Both Sonic and Shadow were leaning against the wall, almost meditating. Rotor was sitting down on a rock, Sally was perched on the roof of a fallen stalactite nearby. Amy was sitting with her legs crossed on the floor, as was Tails nearby. Bunnie stood by Fiona, still furious with the red vixen even after she had just learned the truth. Perhaps she was not yet convinced of Fiona's innocence.

"I…" muttered Fiona, noticing Bunnie's glare. "I know I made a mistake in trusting Robotnik, but you should know that I always had the best interest for the team."

"The best interest for the team?" echoed Bunnie. "More like, the best interest fer _you_."

"Bunnie, enough." This came from Tails, who jumped to his feet and walked over to Fiona's side in her defense. "Okay, so she admits she made a mistake. Can't we just forgive her and move on now?"

For once, Shadow spoke after keeping quiet for a while: "I think we _should_ move on; we've spent a lot of time here and haven't made a lot of progress."

"Speak for yourself," Sonic softly argued. "I say we team up with these ninja dudettes and outnumber the Iron Queen ten to one."

Sally frowned, "That's not going to be easy, Sonic. We've still got three other ninja clans to worry about first."

Tails came up with a quick solution; "Fiona's a ninja! Maybe she can help."

"Oh no!" Bunnie shook her head while pointing at Fiona accusingly. "No way, Ah'm not gonna be on her team anymore. Ah'm sorry, but Ah can't just forget what happened to our friends after this one turned us in. We lost three good people thanks to her- four if you count Nicole, who only came back to us by chance."

Fiona's ears drooped. "I swear, I never wanted that to happen. I'm truly sorry."

Sally took a moment to take in her thoughts before rising from her seat and approaching Fiona. After a moment of their blue eyes locking intensely, the she-squirrel said, "Any help from the Gossamer clan will be accepted."

"Sally, I really can't thank-"

"However, I'm with Bunnie in that I can't trust you completely. Do whatever you think is right, Fiona; but at the very least, keep your distance from me."

"And me," added Bunnie sharply.

As Sally and Bunnie started to walk off, they were soon joined by Amy, Rotor and Shadow. Sonic and Tails stayed behind with Fiona, while Amy was quick to stop in her tracks to look back on them, watching them curiously.

"Fiona," said Tails reassuringly, "I know you didn't mean all that bad stuff to happen. If you want, you can hang out with me for a while."

The vixen paused before turning her nose up at him. "You're too kind, Tails, but the girls made their decision. Besides, my place is with my clan…. For now."

Knowing this was her final decision on the matter, Sonic pawed Tails' shoulder. "Come on, buddy, let's leave her be."

Tails was reluctant to leave her behind; he still found it hard to believe that she, a fellow fox, could do something truly evil. But still, he followed after Sonic who was soon joined by Amy, then the rest of the gang.

Fiona waited until they all left her in the dark corner before deciding whether or not to rejoin them in the Gossamer Bride's lair.

.

"…You nearly got us killed back there," Blaze softly confronted her monkey general while the others were away. "What were you thinking, challenging the Bride like that, and in her lair, no less!"

Ken crossed his arms and kept a prideful pout. "My great-grandfather, a noble samurai, fought those no-good ninja clans in the age of the Dragon Kingdom."

"As did my great-grandmother, Ebony the Cat. What's your point?"

"I don't see why you're so cool about these ninjas. Our families have clashed with them in our land for centuries. Why should we trust them now?"

Blaze's eyes softened again, with a deeper look of sadness. "I know this is hard, Ken… but for Marine's sake, we need them on our side."

Ken turned to her with a newfound look of guilt. "…I'm sorry, Princess."

"It's okay. Just… try to keep it together Ken."

"I… I will try. I promise."

"…Did we miss something?" asked Sonic as he sped into the scene before his teammates.

"No, we were just talking," Blaze told him.

Sally then said, "We're ready to move out, but first we need to make sure we know where to go from here."

"Let's ask the lady in charge," Shadow suggested.

.

Blaze then led everyone back to the Bride's throne room and requested, "Majesty. We will support you and your homeland, if you could help us out in any way you can. Could you, maybe, show us where to go from here? Or at the very least, show us where we can find the Iron Queen?"

The spider bride paused in thought before saying, "We shall consult the Web of Fate and see what it directs."

The troupe watched and waited while the Bride carefully skinned certain web strings delicately with her fingers; they could not see that deep within the webbing were tiny symbols- kanji- written in the webbing. She read them silently to herself before translating aloud: "The path to victory runs two ways. On one end, you may try to speak to the Shinobi clan, who no doubt resent the Iron Queen's dominance. But you will also have to face her more loyal clan, the Yagyu. On the other path, you will find the largest and most ruthless of her followers, the Raiju clan. Defeating them head on would be most dangerous, but there is a chance for you to defeat them."

Blaze took in her wisdom and replied, "We'll go for the smaller clans first, if that's the easier path. But the Raiju will also have to be dealt with."

"You will find the small clans on Pirate Island Zone, while the Raiju sit in luxury within the Machine Labyrinth Zone."

Blaze then bowed graciously, "Thank you. On behalf of the Felidae Kingdom, we appreciate your help."

The Bride bowed back, "And we thank _you_, Princess of Felidae."

As the team started to head out, the Bride looked to her one surrogate daughter. "…Fiona, dear child. It is time."

Fiona suddenly emerged from the shadows, looking to her queen curiously. "Master?"

"The web has been woven; it is telling you to join them."

"But… I haven't completed my training yet, have I?"

"Your training is complete, dear child. Go, and know that we will be watching over you on your quest."

Fiona pawed her fist in respect for her leader. "Thank you, Master. I will fulfill my destiny." She then faded back into the dark in true ninja fashion.

The Bride looked on with softened eyes. "Good luck… our daughter."

.

**-BONUS SCENE!-**

Upon entering the exit of the cave, the team came across two ski boats tied to a rocky ledge. Blaze explained, "We can take these to the next islands, courtesy of the Gossamer clan."

"Excellent," smiled Sonic as he hopped into the one lines in blue, while Blaze took the one lined in red.

"…Wait!" came a voice from far behind. Tails looked back, and saw the beautiful Fiona running up to them, cheering, "I want to join you. Let me help!"

"Fiona!" cheered the young fox boy. She stopped in front of him while he looked up at her in sheer delight. "You wanna help?"

"Yes, it's the least I could do after… well, you know."

"Okay, you're on my team!" Without hesitation, he grabbed her hand in a friendly manner. "And don't worry, I won't let anyone else push you around."

"Thanks, kiddo… You're alright." With that, she brushed back his bangs, making him flush a rosy red in the face.

"Everybody ready?" called out Sonic, noticing the newest member of the Freedom Fighters.

Tails gave him an enthusiastic thumb's up. "We're ready!"

Sonic nodded back. "Then let's head for Pirate Island! …Or, wait. Is it Ninja Island now?"

"Probably," mused Blaze as she switched on her ski boat.

Sonic shrugged as he switched his boat on. "Heh. I guess ninjas beat pirates after all."

Shadow, Rotor, Bunnie and Ken took to Blaze's boat, while Sally, Sonic, Tails, Amy, and now Fiona took to Sonic's. The two ski boats sprayed water on their way out through the open mouth of the cave.

.

**-CONGRATULATIONS!-**

**THE FOLLOWING CHARACTER HAS BEEN ADDED**

**TO YOUR ROSTER OF WARRIORS:**

**FIONA FOX (Speed-Type)**

**Number of Warriors: 13**

**.**

**-NEW TEAM!-**

**TEAM KITSUNE**

**Tails (Flight-Type) and Fiona (Speed-Type)**

.

**LOADING ZONE…**

.


	35. NOCTURNE ISLAND ZONE, ACT I: Kitsune

**.**

**35. "Ninja-Pirates, or Pirate-Ninjas?"**

.

Two ski-boats were making waves on the way to the island once inhabited by Eggman-Nega's robot pirate army. Once it was dubbed "Pirate Island;" now it had been renamed "Nocturne Island" by its new inhabitants. Among the rebels sitting in their ski boats was a cloud flying through the air like a miniature rocket. It was Monkey Khan and his lucky cloud.

As Sally watched him flying through the air, she looked highly impressed. "Wow, that's really neat! How does he do that?"

Sonic, piloting the blue boat, glanced up at the monkey and raised an eyebrow. "Puh, that's nothing! Tails can do that without even needing a cloud."

"But it's still neat," smiled Sally, still staring up at the caped samurai. Then suddenly, she waved at him. "Hey, Ken! How're you doing that cloud effect?"

Hearing her, the monkey general smiled back, "Oh, this? It's an ancient form of cloud control passed down by my ancestors."

"Cloud control. Puh." Sonic rolled his eyes, trying not to be impressed by the monkey's magic. "Stupid pun is stupid."

"Hee-hee-hee," giggled Amy nearby. "Sounds like somebody's jealous."

Sonic took offense. "Ha! Me, jealous of a guy who I barely even know? I'm not!" He couldn't help but glance back at Sally and her obvious admiration for Ken. "…I'm not."

"We're approaching the island," Blaze called out. "Let's pick our teams while we're here."

"I choose Ken!" Sally raised her hand quickly, much to Sonic's discontent.

As if trying to one-up Sally, Sonic replied, "I call Amy! …Wait, I mean…"

"Oh Sonic, you're so sweet!" smiled a charmed Amy. Sonic's ears drooped and his mouth curled downward in dismay.

"I'm with Blaze," said Shadow.

"I'll go with Bunnie," nodded Rotor.

Tails turned to the red lady in black by his side. "That leaves you and me, Fiona."

The ninja gave him a nod, "You got it, kiddo."

.

**- NOCTURNE ISLAND ZONE -**

**-ACT I-**

**Selected Team: Team Kitsune (Tails and Fiona)**

While the island's shores were tropical, the center of it was a large basin filled with water from the ocean. There was a city made of marble stone built on this great lake, with bridges and tunnel ways that made it almost seem like the city was floating above the water. Gorgeous as it was to look at, it was now crawling with Badniks such as **Newtrons** that could turn invisible, **Shell Crackers** who looked like Crabmeats on steroids, and **Jaws** that could fly both in and out of the water. And as if that weren't tricky enough, there were plenty of Yagyu bat ninjas hanging around, armed with a dagger on each paw. They patrolled both the sky and the land.

While Rotor and Bunnie took to the water with their Bocoe and Decoe jet skis, the rest of the teams took to the city's marble ground.

"I've got this," said Fiona as she charged forward. She ran into a speed boosting device on the floor which launched her straight up a very steep climb, over a tall loop, and across a high rise.

**Ring Count: 14**

At the edge of the runway was a gigantic catapult machine; she jumped onto it and was launched along with a boulder across open water. She landed safely onto the next platform while the boulder dropped straight down into the pool. With momentum already in her stride, Fiona tore across the platform to grab more Rings, and dodge an attack from a Newtron that zipped by.

**Ring Count: 17**

"My turn!" cheered Tails as Fiona tagged him into play. He jumped over the ledge of the platform and activated his tail propellers, coasting over another long drop below and onto another high rise. He landed on a bridge occupied by the first of his ninja opponents: a purple-furred bat with jet-black wings, armed with daggers. The Yagyu ninja charged at Tail, but he jumped straight up into the air and landed on the bat's head, knocking him unconscious. Then Tails headed for what appeared to be a ship's cannon. Upon jumping on it, it unleashed a spray of water that acted as a lift. Tails sailed across the stream of water, which took him across another far drop, and onto another runway.

"I've got this," smiled Fiona as she jumped into play. She ran across another speed booster, which launched her straight up through a line of Rings and into the highest level of the city.

**Ring Count: 35**

Fiona now had to tread carefully, as the high platform was home to three flying Yagyu bats. She was able to dodge their attacks by sliding with her legs, and felt compelled to attack the third with a lash from her yellow ribbon string. The bat fell to the ground, but wasn't yet defeated; it came charging at her with its daggers in hand. Fiona jumped straight up and came back down with a screw-kick, pummeling him to the ground.

She then ran ahead, down a very steep slope that merged into two loop-de-loops, then curved downward again, into the pool below. But with her momentum, Fiona was able to skate across the skin of the water like a basilisk lizard, clearing the pool and reaching dry land of the other side.

**Ring Count: 48**

"Let me try," said Tails as he was tagged into play. Tails used his tail propellers to push him forward, just missing the projectile of a Newtron hiding nearby, but as he approached a chasm he jumped into flight mode. As he did so, he carried himself over a Shell Cracker that was sitting on the very edge of the next platform, with an enormous crab claw shooting out at him. Tails didn't bother to defeat it; instead he launched himself forward on a speed booster, which carried him upward into the city's mid-section.

**Ring Count: 58**

Two Yagyu bat ninjas were waiting for Tails on the next platform; this time they were throwing their daggers at him. He barely missed getting hit as he activated his flight mode just in time to lift himself over the daggers.

"Prepare to be impressed," mused Fiona as Tails tagged her into play, so that she could slide-kick herself into the two defenseless ninjas. Then after running across the runway, she came to another water cannon. Jumping on it activated its water spray, but first she aimed it high to make sure it cleared the Jaws that were floating by. After aiming it diagonally, she launched herself onto the water spray and went flying upward toward a skate rail. She landed on the rail, which set her on a winding course full of Rings and jump-dodging Jaws that flew into her path.

**Ring Count: 76**

"Me next!" said Tails as Fiona tagged him upon landing on solid ground. Tails could have used his flight mode to reach over the pillars that were in his way, but using the diagonal bouncers on said pillars proved to be much faster. He bounced himself right, left, right, left, and right again, onto a high platform with three more Yagu ninjas throwing daggers at him. One of those daggers managed to skewer him.

**Ring Count: 0-15**

"Aw, no!" he gasped, while he and his partner scrambled for their Rings. While still vulnerable, Tails spin-dashed into the bat ninjas, knocking them off their feet and into submission. Then he followed the platform's path downward, into the pool but with enough momentum to skim the water's skin and not sink into it. He then jumped upward, just missing getting hit by a shell Cracker's claw, and managed to hit its soft spot on top of its head, thus pulverizing it.

**Ring Count: 35**

"Watch this," smiled Fiona as she came into play. She spin-dashed herself across the plain, then jumped onto a bumper that launched her up onto a ledge with another gigantic catapult. This lifted her onto a platform where she would have to fight five more ninjas, ones that weren't going to throw their daggers.

"Too easy," smiled Tails as he was tagged in to sail straight over the bat ninjas' heads. He then tagged Fiona back into play.

"Watch this," she smiled as she went dashing to a water cannon. She had to aim it just right, because in the distance she could see a pattern of water jet streams that would have helped her on her course. After aiming it in the right direction, she launched herself onto the cannon's water stream upward, then jumped into an even higher stream, then one flowing far left, then one flowing far right, then one flowing straight forward, onto the next runway.

**Ring Count: 60**

Fiona then spin-dashed into a row of Yagyu ninjas who had no chance of dodging her, followed by a line of Jaws who exploded on impact with her roll. Then it was just one steep drop down a slope, across a pool of water at maximum speed, collecting twenty Rings, and straight into the Goal Line with flying colors.

.

**-ACT I: CLEARED!-**

**Ring Total: 80**

**Bonus Points: 8,000**

**Rank: A+ (Awesome!)**

.

Fiona and Tails silently met up with the others, one of which seemed more enthusiastic than usual.

"Waaa-ha-hoh! Yeah! Score one for the hedgehogs!" cheered Sonic as he slid into the Goal Line like a baseball player sliding into home plate. He high-fived Amy, then pointed competitively at Monkey Khan as he and Sally floated into the scene. "In your face, Monkey-Butt!"

Ken and Sally exchanged glances; "I was unaware that this was a competition," said Ken.

"Ignore him," said Sally as she rolled her eyes at Sonic. "He's just being all super-macho, as usual."

Sonic stood his ground and glared at Sally rather angrily. "Look, Sal, while you two were on Cloud 9- literally- I was tearing that course a new one! Right, Amy?"

"He sure was, and I was right there with him."

"Yeah!" Sonic then pulled Amy closer to him, much to even her surprise, and wrapped his arm around her middle. "Me n' my girl got an S ranking on that one. What did you two get?"

"I'll tell you what I'm getting," groaned Sally, "a splitting headache." Then, palming her brow, Sally marched off while giving Sonic a look of disgust. Ken followed after her, unaware that the blue hedgehog was giving him the evil eye.

Amy then pulled herself away from Sonic and frowned, "You know, Sonic? When I said you were being jealous back there on the ski boat, I was actually teasing you. I didn't think you were jealous for real."

Sonic crossed his arms in denial. "It's not what you think, Ams. I'm not into Sally like that."

Amy's eyes narrowed. "…I wasn't talking about Sally."

Sonic's ears drooped as he realized his mistake. He was about to explain himself, when a rustling of leaves caught his attention, as well as the attention of the other teams. Footsteps were pounding their way, following by a familiar voice panting.

While breathing heavily, Knuckles came running out into the open, and only when he saw that his friends were present, he finally stopped to take a breather, doubling over as though pained.

"Hey, Knuckles!" smiled Sonic. "Long time no-"

"FINISH THAT LINE, AND I'LL KNOCK YOU RIGHT BACK TO FELIDAE!" Winded by his ordeal, Knuckles he used up all of the air his lungs could manage at the time for his great and loud protest.

While Sonic took two small steps back with his eyes bulging in fear, Shadow ran to the emerald guardian with a look of concerned. "Knuckles, What happened? Where are Antoine and Julie-Su?"

While still panting, only softer now, Knuckles explained his plight. "…Julie, Antoine and I were scouting out the smaller islands in the area, when he caught sight of the Yagyu clan doing battle on the main land. We went out there to investigate, but we were setup with a trap… huff… huff…"

"Take your time, Knucklehead," said Shadow with a half smile.

Knuckles righted himself as his lungs were soothed. "Okay. Here's what happened: Julie and Antoine went ahead of me, while I scaled the peaks to make sure they were safe. But out of nowhere, they were ambushed. I ran as fast as I could to where they were, but all I found was a note, saying they're being held hostage at Yagyu's fortress. I came running back here to send out a signal to you guys, and… Well, you're here."

Blaze walked over to Knuckles and asked, "Will you be okay?"

"I'm okay…" Knuckles then pulled out the piece of paper he was talking about, then turned it on its other side. "Here, they even gave us a map to show us where to find them."

Blaze frowned as her suspicions were raised, "It's a trap; they're expecting us to just walk right in there and demand our friends back."

"Maybe," nodded the echidna, "but there's something else you don't know. I caught a glimpse of the Yagyu clan's newest member… You are _not_. Gonna believe. Who it is."

One look at Knuckles' deep, spiteful glare was enough for Blaze and Shadow and even Sonic to know the answer. Because of all people that had ever gotten under the echidna boy's skin over the years, only one managed to make him so spiteful.

"Does she still have the blue Chaos Emerald?" asked Shadow.

Knuckles gave him a nod, still burning with hate in his eyes.

"Then let's go," said Sonic with a balled fist. "It's time to put these bats where they belong. _All _of 'em!" He took off in a blue flash, with Knuckles taking off after him.

.

**-NEW TEAM!-**

**BEST of FRIENEMIES**

**Sonic (Speed-Type) and Knuckles (Power-Type)**

**.**

**LOADING…**

.


	36. NOCTURNE ISLAND ZONE, ACT II: Frienemies

_Credit goes to Ian Flynn and _Sonic Universe Issues #14 _and_ #15,_ and Archie's_ "Sonic the Hedgehog" Issue #165_ for some of the dialogue in this chapter._

**.**

**36. "Is There An Echo In Here?"**

.

"_Hisssssss!" _

"I'm still learning the local lingo," said Sonic as he stared down the Yagyu bat ninja floating over his head. "…But I_ think_ that means, 'Beat the snot out of me!'" With that, the blue hedgehog rolled into a ball and threw himself at the purple bat, hitting him in the stomach.

The heroes were halfway through Nocturne Island when they were ambushed by more and more purple bats clad in black. "Stinking Yagyu scum!" cursed Monkey Khan. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted their summons!"

"We had no choice," frowned Sally nearby. "Julie and Antoine are in danger; we've got to get to them before…"

"Leave it to me, princess!" Sonic called out, giving her a thumb's up before shooting himself down a path of bat ninjas.

"Hey, wait for me!" yelled Knuckles as he tried catching up with Sonic.

As the red and blue heroes raced on, Sonic smiled to Knuckles, "Hey by the way, thanks for saving my bacon back there."

"What're you talking about?"

"When you came in, Amy was about to ask me if I like Sally."

"Yeah? …So what if you _do_ like her? It's your life, man, not hers."

Sonic stopped in his tracks; by now he and Knuckles were miles ahead of the team. "I'm not saying I'm interested in Sally."

"Then why're you acting like this is a big deal?"

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "It _is _a big deal. If Amy thinks I like her, then she's gonna get all uber-jealous and take it out on me."

"You don't even like Amy in that way."

"I know."

"Then why do you care if she gets jealous or not?"

"Because she has a giant hammer!" Then Sonic made a small pout; "Besides," he added, "I'm not even sure if she even likes me."

"Amy?"

"No, Sally."

Knuckles paused to rub his cranium. "Dude, you're making my head hurt. Let's just beat up some more ninjas."

"…Yeah, okay. I can do that," shrugged Sonic.

.

**- NOCTURNE ISLAND ZONE -**

**-ACT II-**

**Selected Team: Best of Frienemies (Sonic and Knuckles)**

"Try and keep up," said Sonic as he took off into the lead. He made a mad dash down a runway of cobblestone, then blazed straight up a steep slope, over a long loop-de-loop, and through an obstacle course of gigantic anchors that dropped from a higher ledge.

**Ring Count: 15**

Sonic then jumped onto the last anchor that dropped, then allowed it to lift him onto the higher plane where he was met with three flying Newtrons and two bat ninjas armed with katana swords.

"Let me at 'em!" growled Knuckles enthusiastically as he came into play. With a high jump connected to a ground pound, he managed to use enough force in his "Ground Breaker" to wipe out all of the ninjas. He then zoomed past the Newtrons and ran straight down a slide that took him all the way down to the pool below.

**Ring Count: 25**

Knuckles skimmed the water for a little bit, but soon his weight pulled him under, where he met Chompers swimming by with their metal jaws chattering. He spin-dashed across the ground level quickly enough to jump onto an anchor that elevated him back to the surface.

"I'll take it from here," smiled Sonic as he was tagged into play. Dashing across the runway, Sonic came to a water cannon which he aimed to the high right. The water spray trounced a Newtron in mid-air, then the hedgehog rode it upward onto a higher platform.

**Ring Count: 37**

Sonic then jumped onto a large catapult device and with a boulder he was swung clear over the pool below. The boulder slammed through a wall, letting Sonic land in a new area, where four katana-armed bat ninjas were waiting.

"This one's mine!" said Knuckles as he used his "Ground Breaker" move once again. With the ninjas on their backs, the echidna ran to the ledge and jump-glided over to a high wall. He climbed up to its top, where he found three Ten Ring bonus boxes.

**Ring Count: 67**

Knuckles then jumped off the ledge and glided onto a grind rail that took him on a zig-zag course straight to the water. With no momentum in his speed, he sank like a rock into the pool.

**Ring Count: 82**

"Too slow," teased Sonic as he took the lead. Though he wasn't much of a swimmer, he would soon have assistance from a white dolphin. He jumped onto the dolphin's back, and it took off through the water as smoothly as any torpedo. Sonic even steered it up and down, left and right, to grab Ring rows and to pummel the oncoming Chompers.

**Ring Count: 86… 90… 94… 98**

Then Sonic carefully aimed the dolphin upward to the surface, so that he could breathe. He and his new pet skimmed the top of the water while passing by waterfalls and marble stone pedestals, before they dove back down into the water. The dolphin guided Sonic through three blue hoops which increased its speed, so that when it came to a tunnel full of Rings, Sonic was in no danger of drowning.

**Ring Count: 101… 105… 109- Full Power!**

With a great splash, the dolphin broke through the surface, allowing Sonic to jump high into the air and land on the next marble runway. On the runway, Sonic stopped at an anchor, which only carried him halfway up a building and stopped at a Shell Cracker. He just missed getting hit by the Shell Cracker's claw by double-jumping over it, then rushed over to a second anchor to reach the top of the building.

On the roof, Sonic came to a row of ten ninja bats, all armed with katana swords.

"Let me at 'em!" cheered Knuckles. He then used his Ground Breaker, only this time the force was enough to shatter the platform the ninjas were standing on. They fell, and didn't fly either because they were too stunned from the attack or they just couldn't remember they had wings. Either way, Knuckles was now staring down a big hole, but was patient enough to glide over it. He then glided over the ledge of the building and onto an anchor, which dropped so heavily that it crashed through a floor and straight into the pool below.

Knuckles was fortunate to find another white dolphin in the water, and by jumping onto it the dolphin took him on a fast ride through the pool, passing some Choppers and ramming into others, while collecting more Rings.

**Ring Count: 109… 115… 123… 127**

The dolphin stopped at a wall, but Knuckles wasn't out of the water yet. He had to use a bouncer to jump onto a small platform that was floating just on the water's surface. The bouncer did at least save him from drowning, but proved to pack enough power for him to completely miss his target. He had no choice but to swim back to the bouncer and try again. This time it worked; he landed safely on the floating bouncer, and that one carried him onto a building. All the while, a beautiful waterfall was looking over the obstacle course.

"Leave it to me," said Sonic as he charged forward. On the corner of the building he ran into a bouncer, which took him straight up a left-veering ramp, then a second bouncer shot him up a right-veering ramp. Then on the very top of the building, a catapult was waiting to be triggered. When Sonic used it, both he and the boulder went flying through three walls, causing the building he landed on to collapse. He had to book it across a runway crowded with Newtrons in order to reach the ledge.

**Ring Count: 140**

"My turn!" yelled Knuckles as he jumped into a glide just as the building's end fell to pieces. The echidna guided himself downward to an open field full of bat ninjas. There were ten in total, all armed with two swords in hand.

"TEAM-UP!"

**Ring Count: 40**

For "Wrath of Angel Island," Sonic pulled a Ring from within his body, and tugged at it in one direction while Knuckles pulled in the other, until the ring was expanded into a large Warp Ring. But just as they had planned, the Warp Ring they summoned opened up the Special Stage of Angel Island, with its brown and tan checkerboard globe cluttered with large red and blue spheres. As the curious bat ninjas peered into the vortex, those giant red and blue spheres came pouring out of the Ring like gumballs from a raided candy machine, pummeling them into oblivion.

"Don't touch the red spheres!" joked Sonic.

"Hell, don't touch the blue ones either!" added Knuckles.

Then once the enemies vanished after being rushed by the spheres, so did the Warp Ring.

"Here we go," said Sonic as he made a mad dash for the Goal Post on the other side of the course.

.

**-ACT II: CLEARED!-**

**Ring Total: 40**

**Bonus Points: 20,000 (10,000 for Team Attack, 5,000 for each Ground Breaker)**

**Level-Up! –Sonic Team-Ups now cost 50 Rings!**

**Level-Up! –Knuckles Team-Ups now cost 50 Rings!**

**Rank: S (You've Earned a Continue!)**

**Continue Count: 4**

.

"There," smiled Knuckles as he gently nudged Sonic with his fist. "And we didn't even have to break any hearts."

.

The fortress of the Yagyu ninja clan stood on the edge of the island looking over the beach from a grand cliff. A palace unto itself, it was built for a rich lord, or perhaps even a multi-millionaire. But for reasons unknown, its original owners had deserted it, leaving it wide open for the ninjas to stake their claim.

Inside, Antoine and Julie-Su were locked in a birdcage large enough for the two of them, but Julie was the one making a struggle for the door. Unfortunately for her, a white bat with purple wings, and an all-black bodysuit with a pink heart in its middle, was taunting her from outside the cage.

"Aww, how cute," smiled Rouge. "She's just like Knuckles, only prettier… and shinier too! Love your accessories, hon." With that, she picked at Julie's one cybernetic quill-lock.

"Let go of that, you bi-_Oof_!" went Julie as she tried to pull back her quills. Before she could finish her outburst, Rouge gave her a harsh shove, pushing her into Antoine and making the two of them fall in the cage.

"_Bat_," snapped Rouge. "Remember it."

"Heehehehehehehee… Bravo." The lord of the Yagyu clan clapped at the sight of the squabble from his stone throne, smiling at his newest recruit. "I knew when we saw you wandering around on our island that you'd be of use to us, Miss Rouge."

The white she-bat turned to him with a cunning smile. "It's always a pleasure to be working with someone that shares my taste in gold and jewels."

Julie reared herself back up, more furious than before. "When my friends get here, they'll make you all pay for…"

_Creeeeeeak!_ Went the front door. From behind it marched the Freedom Fighters, much to the bat king's amusement. Sonic and his team realized that the majority of the bat ninja clan was present and accounted for, along with Rouge standing by the king's throne.

"Oh, dang! We're late to the party," frowned Sonic sarcastically. "I knew we shoulda hung a left at Albuquerque."

"And so," smiled the ninja lord, "our little heroes finally show themselves. And it appears we have a special guest: Princess Blaze. A pleasure."

"Cut the baloney, King of Rich Nights," growled Blaze as she marched forward, with Ken right behind her. "We came here to free our friends."

"And," added Monkey Khan, "to give you a chance to break free from the Iron Queen."

"Both such noble causes," mused the lord as he scooped up a batch of grapes and shoving them in his mouth. "…But…" he chewed, "I really don't see why we should give in to your demands." He swallowed his food while some grape juice ran down his chin. "For your friends' lives, we will offer you a chance to prove yourselves. As for the Iron Queen, I shall talk only to Princess Blaze and her pet monkey."

"Pet. Monkey." Ken growled, looking as furious as Blaze ever was; had he gripped any tighter onto his staff, it could have split in two.

"Easy Ken," whispered Blaze, "he's all talk. I can tell."

Sonic then stepped forward and asked, "So, what's it gonna take to get our friends back?"

The ninja lord paused with a chuckle and wiping his mouth of grape juice before he responded. "…I propose a duel of honor; since you're clearly outnumbered here, an all-out battle would be unfair."

"Ninjas with honor? Huh," muttered Knuckles.

The ninja lord snapped back with, "Said the echidna!" Knuckles had to be retrained by Shadow before he could charge at the big purple bat. "Still," smiled the ninja lord, "we will not stoop so low as to take you all down in one shot. Therefore, a one-on-one duel will take place. If our champion wins, you will all be taken to the Iron Queen as prisoners."

"And if our champion wins," smiled Blaze as she winked at Sonic, "you will release our friends and consider my offer of peace."

"Agreed," nodded the bat lord. "You shall do battle with our newest protégé: Rouge the Bat!"

Rouge fluttered from her pedestal by the captives' cage to the center of the room, smiling eagerly at Shadow and Knuckles. "Hey, boys," she waved with a wink. "Consider this my resignation from G.U.N."

Blaze then turned and bowed before the blue hedgehog, saying, "The kingdom of Felidae humbly requests Sonic the Hedgehog to fight as our champion."

Sonic playfully bowed back smiling, "Sonic the Hedgehog happily accepts, but thinks all this honorific hoity-toity is silly."

"Him?" gasped Rouge worriedly. "I was all set to fight Shadow or Knuckles."

Hearing her, Sonic grinned, "Sorry, bat-babe, but _I'm_ the hero of this adventure."

Rouge braced herself for battle. "I'm not scared of you, cutie pie. You're just a stepping stone on my way to glory."

.

**-MINI-BOSS BATTLE: vs. ROUGE-**

Rouge came out with a spinning kick at Sonic, but he rolled out of the way and grabbed three Rings to ensure he would survive certain damage. Rouge then took to the air on her purple wings and floated left and right to confuse her opponent, before spinning her body into a drill and pummeling down on Sonic.

He had lost two of his Rings in the attack, but rushed to save one. Now with two Rings in his system, Sonic used his homing attack on Rouge while she was grounded. He managed to get two hits into her before she reeled back and jumped into the air on her wings.

Then Rouge pulled out smoke bombs from her suit and started to throw them onto the ground. Their explosions let out a great dark cloud, making it hard to see the she-bat's next attack. But all Sonic had to do to clear the smoke was spin-dash across the field. When he did so, he missed getting hit by Rouge's screw kick.

Sonic then used his homing attack on her again, hitting her three times in one second. Rouge was now slowing down. She threw out a smoke bomb at her feet, and she disappeared within the black cloud. Sonic cleared the smoke with his spin-dash, but it seemed as though Rouge had disappeared. So he stopped in his tracks and waited for her to come to him.

When she did, she reappeared in a puff of smoke, charging at him with her feet spinning in drill-like fashion toward him. He then double-jumped to dosge the attack and landed on her head. She fell onto her feet and was clearly dazed; one more homing dash to her middle, and it was all over.

.

**-MISSION: CLEARED!-**

.

Rouge fell to her knees, looking both dazed and stunned at her loss. Sonic, meanwhile, took a bow while his friends applauded. Then he soon realized that the ninja lord was also clapping for him.

"Bravo, bravo!" cheered the king in his deep, cynical tone of voice. "Granted, I'm not completely pleased with the outcome, but you heroes do put on quite a show."

"Aw gee, that almost sounded sincere," smiled the blue hedgehog.

"And now," said the bat king as he rose from his throne, "I shall talk to the Felidae advocates, as promised."

"What about our friends?" asked Sally sternly.

The king then glanced back at the caged heroes. "…Oh yes, them. Guard, release them."

As the ninja lord walked past her, Rouge was still on her knees, her heart bleeding in humility. He gave her one glance, then said, "Men, kindly escort these trespassers from my castle."

As two bat ninjas reached down and grabbed Rouge by her arms, she gasped, "No, wait! I'm one of you, aren't I?"

The king, having his back turned on her, replied, "This battle was a test to see if you were truly worthy of the clan. Clearly you've failed, and so we have no further interest in you."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

And just like that, Rouge's pride was all but shattered. She was motionless while the ninjas dragged her out of the room and ultimately to the outside world. Meanwhile, the heroes were also leaving the castle, along with newly released Antoine and Julie-Su.

But while most of them headed in one straight path out of the castle, the Yagyu lord led Blaze and Ken to a courtyard where they would discuss the future of their kingdoms…

**.**

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

.


	37. If You Can't Beat 'Em

_Credits to Ian Flynn and _Sonic Universe Issue #15_ for certain dialogue in this chapter, and for certain plot points inspired by _Sonic Universe's "Journey to the East."

**.**

**37: "If You Can't Beat 'Em…"**

**.**

**Robotropolis Zone.**

Finitevus had not been back in Robotnik's lair for some time, and wasn't expecting the human to be so pleasant with his return, but it seemed like their bout regarding Metal-Stryker had been put behind them.

While walking down the hallway to Robotnik's main computer room, the white echidna couldn't help but stop and stare at a stature standing on a small pedestal. The statue was of a short, thin human with very little strands of hair on his oval head, and with a long pointy nose. Under its feet lay a label marked, "Colin 'Snively' Kintobor Junior." Finitevus paused, bemused.

"Is that you, Finitevus?" called out the voice of Robotnik.

"Here I am, sire!" Fin called back, now hurrying himself to the computer room.

There, he noticed that part of the room's lights were switched off as though something was hiding in the shadows. But the albino echidna paid the corner no mind and walked up to Robotnik on his throne. The oversized mad doctor had his pet robo-chicken on a chair arm, stroking its head as though it were a cat.

"It's disgusting, isn't it?" purred the madman. "How easily those vermin have taken out our conquered kingdoms just like that. It really makes the oil in my blood boil."

"I concur," nodded Fin. "I'm not that crazy about having to leave Canus, but it seems our heroes have met their match in the Aquatic Islands, haven't they?"

"Yesss," smiled Robotnik, "and we owe it all thanks to you and your patient."

"My… patient?" blinked a confused Fin.

Robotnik's chair hovered over to a computer screen and he tapped in a code to bring up the image of a woman laid out on a slab. Finitevus recognized the creature onscreen immediately. "Is that?"

"It is, indeed. What was your pet name for her again? Was it Number 22?"

"Yes," nodded Fin. "She was my twenty-second test subject for a new mind-control crown I had invented. All of the other subjects went mad; I had to give them up to the Roboticizer before their violent nature became uncontrollable."

"Well," explained Robotnik, "it seems that this one took to her crown very well. Hee-hee-hee. She seems to think she is The Iron Queen of the Dragon Empire."

Fin mused, "Aah, I see. I remember that story: Before the cat folk took over, the land was known as the Dragon Kingdom, with an evil sorceress as its warlord. But she was defeated by the ancestors of the present queen and princess, renaming it Felidae."

"I was going to Roboticize her, but then I thought it would be much more entertaining if she gave our 'friends' the run-around."

"An excellent choice, Master! Now she can help us lay claim of Aquatic and Avian. I shall send the message to my Captain in Avian right now, to let him know of our new ally."

"Wait, Finitevus, there's more."

Fin curiously followed the mad scientist in his hovering throne over to the darkened corner of the room. Robotnik twiddled his fingers excitedly as he said, "Ever since my explorations of the Other World, where I've met Sonic and his friends, I was also greeted by a likeness of myself named Dr. Eggman. He had built robotic copies of his enemies to keep them at bay while he staked his claim on the planet."

"Interesting."

"I knew it was only a matter of time before that blue rodent would show up here again, so I decided to copy Eggman's designs, and now at long last, they are complete!"

As Robotnik announced each robotic doppelganger, a spotlight switched on over them: "Behold, the dark metal copies of… Super Speed!" (Dark Metal-Sonic.) "Super Strength!" (Dark Metal-Knuckles.) "Super-Stealth!" (Black Metal-Shadow.) "And finally, Supreme Flight!"

The spotlight switched on, but nothing was there but a flat pedestal.

Robotnik dropped his smile and turned his hover throne over to the main computer in the room. "A.D.A.M.?" he groaned, pronouncing the computer's name as "Adam."

"**Yes, Father?"** said the main computer in a soft, masculine voice.

"I TOLD YOU SEVERAL TIMES NOT TO CALL ME THAT!" During this fit, the robo-chicken flew off Robotnik's chair arm.

"**Error. Forgive me, Master."**

"Hmph… Well, where is Dark Metal-Tails?"

"**Dark Metal-Tails is still in the process of being rebuilt, after a team of Acorn rebels raided and destroyed our main factory two months ago."**

"Well, you seemed to have finished the other three. What's taking so long?" roared Robotnik as he slammed his fist onto his chair's arm.

"**Master. All four doppelganger robots were destroyed in said explosion. I had rebuilt each one as quickly as I could, while trying to stay within their original designs of supreme speed, power, stealth or flight skills. I had saved the Flight Copy for last, thinking that he was the least concerning of your project."**

"Hmm… Well I've got news for you, A.D.A.M. The Freedom Fighters are halfway through the Aquatic Kingdom. I want my robots- ALL FOUR ROBOTS- on their way to Conquering Storm's island as fast as possible! Do you understand?"

"**Yes, Fa-Master, I comply. I will finish Dark Metal-Tails immediately."**

"Good."

"…**Bear in mind, Master, his design won't be anywhere as impressive as it was before."**

"I don't care what it looks like, I just want it to out-fly that freakish fox!"

"**Understood, Master."**

Robotnik then turned back to Fin who smiled, "Aww, he called you 'Father.'"

Embarrassed, Robotnik palmed his brow. "Meh. It's some kind of programming error I need to fix… No matter, these robots should give us a chance to put those meddlesome pests in their place, and if they fail, the Iron Queen will finish the job."

Fin smiled, "I must say, sire, I am very impressed with your foresight. And to take a page out of someone else's book of evil is just…"

"I know," grinned Robotnik as he licked his lips. "It's delicious."

.

**Nocturne Island Zone, formerly Pirate Island.**

In the garden area outside of the Rich Nights palace, the lord of the Yagyu ninja clan stood by Princess Blaze and her friend Monkey Khan.

"We're both very honored by your decision to talk with us," said Blaze politely.

The bat lord made a face. "Before we start, I must ask this: What is _she_ doing here?"

"Who?" asked a curious Blaze. She looked left and right and saw nothing, until Fiona Fox seemed to fade into the scene with her ninja abilities. "Fiona?"

The red vixen replied, "I represent the Gossamer clan; whatever you have to say here will effect them as well."

"Very well," nodded the Lord of Rich Nights. He then turned to Blaze. "So you know that we've settled onto this island; you should also know that we have no intentions on leaving it. After one humiliating defeat after another back in Felidae, we've decided to go out into the world and make a new home for ourselves."

"I understand," Blaze frowned. "But that still doesn't explain why you've joined forces with someone impersonating the Iron Queen."

The bat lord couldn't help but crack a smile. "Someone? …_Someone_, she says! HA! Hahahahaha!" He paused, realizing the puzzled looks on Blaze and Ken's faces. "…You mean, you really don't know? …Hmm, a pity."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ken with narrowed eyes.

The purple bat king smiled, "I am not in liberty to say. However, I will say this: the Queen has promised us more than just a home the clan, but also to recover the riches of Felidae that we were forced to leave behind, due to those defeats I've mentioned earlier."

"So she bribed you," replied Blaze.

"That makes sense," added Ken coldly.

Blaze elbowed Ken before saying, "What if I turned that bribe around, and offered you both your old territory and a hefty amount of riches on behalf of my kingdom, and in return you denounce your loyalty to the Iron Queen?"

"What?" Ken gasped. "P-princess, you can't just give up your family's wealth, especially to these plunderers."

"Ken, relax!"

"Hold on," interrupted the bat lord. "As amusing it is to see you two banter like this, I must say that your offer, Princess, is most tempting. But as you can see, we have no intentions of returning to Felidae anytime soon. All I ask for, on behalf of my clan, are the riches we've left behind in our former mountain lair. Including the Fan of Fen Xing you stole back from us."

Ken argued, "That fan is a treasure for the royal family, you filthy…!" Again, Blaze stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"You have a deal," Blaze told the ninja king, much to Ken's discomfort.

"Good, then! The deal is settled," smiled the bat lord, shaking Blaze's hand. And, does the Gossamer's pet fox agree to this deal as well?"

Making a face at him, Fiona put her fist to her open palm. "The Gossamer clan will accept this deal… for now."

"I will alert the clan at once," smiled the bat lord. "…Oh, and Princess?"

"Yes?" hummed Blaze.

"Do have fun taking on the Raiju clan; I doubt they'll give you as easy a time as we have."

As the bat lord proudly walked away, Ken said to Blaze, "This isn't good, you know. Those bats will get enough courage now to challenge us back in Felidae again."

"We'll deal with that when it happens," said Blaze sternly. "Right now, what really matters is weakening the Iron Queen's defenses."

.

Meanwhile, in a wooded area not far from the palace, Sonic and friends were relaxing after a long day's adventuring. Shadow, Knuckles and Julie-Su were walking along a path, when they found Rouge sitting on a fallen tree log by herself, with her back turned to them. It looked like she was moping in light of her recent defeat.

"You know," mused Julie, "I don't usually kick a man when he's down, but she _did _insult me back there."

"She's not as bad as she looks… Not mostly," replied Shadow. He walked over to Rouge's area, with the echidnas in tow. He called out, "You fought well back there, Rouge."

"Hmph," she sighed, glancing up at the trio. "Did you come here to gloat?"

Knuckles then said, "Aw come on, Rouge, you know us better than that."

"I meant what I said," added Shadow, looking much less aggressive than usual. "I just don't understand what's come over you lately. Why risk everything you had back in our world for these ninja goons?"

Rouge turned around and stood up to face her would-be friends. "Because," she replied, "I wasn't exactly happy back there, at G.U.N. I mean sure, it was fun at first, and it kept me from going back to my old habits as a jewel thief… But lately, I've been feeling like they haven't been respecting m skills. All me and Shadow do anymore is chase down lowly scum like Fang, or the idiot twins Bean and Bark. There's just no excitement anymore, like in the old days."

"So in other words," guessed Julie, "you've gotten bored."

Rouge gave her a pair of narrowed eyes. "Is it so wrong of me to want a little more action in my life? I was born and raised by expert thieves, just so you know. And while I'll admit I made some mistakes along the way, but it was a good life. A fun life! …I guess I've just felt like I was losing my edge lately. That's why I teamed up with Fang and try to get that old excitement again."

Shadow cracked a small smile, "You could've just told me. We could've ditched G.U.N. altogether and travel the world together."

"Or at the very least," smiled Knuckles, "you could've chased after _other_ Master Emerald thieves."

Rouge then smiled, and even giggled a little. "…So, do you guys forgive me for being such a pain lately?"

"Just one question," said Knuckles, dropping his humorous tone. "Do you still have that Chaos Emerald you took from the Special Stage?"

"Of course," nodded Rouge. She then held out her hand and let the blue gem materialize from her chest and held it out to them. "I wasn't dumb enough to share this with those mangy bats back there."

Shadow looked puzzled. "You could have bribed them with it, you know."

Rouge grinned slyly, "It's_ my_ emerald. I've won it fair and square." Then, to their surprise, she rose from her seat and tossed the gem to Knuckles. "Here. Give this to Sonic."

Knuckles gasped. "But… Why? You just said…"

"I've won it fair and square… But then I lost it, fair and square."

Knuckles gave her a solemn nod. "You're alright, Rouge."

The she-bat then stretched out her wings, as though she was ready to fly. "Wait," said Shadow, "where are you going now? Won't you join us?"

"Sorry Shadow," she replied, "I still got a few things to straighten out with myself. But when I'm ready to join you guys, you'll know. Ciao." Her wings fluttered, and off she flew, leaving a trio of bewildered adventurers.

**.**

"It was risky to let those bats take your mystical Fan of Fen Xing," said Fiona Fox to her new allies Blaze and Ken. "They might try to use it against my clan, since they don't get along well with us."

"You're right," said Blaze. "But I can promise my kingdom's support for your clan, if they would humbly swear loyalty to us."

"I'm sure my Master can work around that sort of deal."

"Hold on," said Ken. "You've only been with the Gossamer for what, three weeks? Four?"

"Something like that."

"Just how well do you know the Bride of Endless Reach? How can we be sure she won't turn on us?"

Fiona insisted, "My clan's honor is sacred. If we go against our word, then we are no longer worthy of life."

"Hmm... spoken like a true ninja," mused Blaze. "I'm impressed."

"But there's one other mystery we need to uncover," said Ken. "The Lord of Rich Nights mentioned the Iron Queen as though he had seen her once before."

"Yes," frowned Blaze worriedly. She then turned to Fiona and asked, "Have you seen the Iron Queen in person?"

Fiona gulped, lowering her head slightly. "I… I've seen her. Once."

"Do you know who she is?"

"I… I'm not sure if you want to hear this, Blaze."

"Come on, out with it. Whoever she is, I can take her on."

"No. You won't want to do that."

"Why not?" Blaze was starting to show impatience, and so Fiona paused to prepare herself before she came out with an answer.

.

Back in their wooded area, the rest of the hero team was still relaxing and talking about what plans to make for their next attack. But Sonic had something far more important to say…

"Sal?" he purred as the red-haired princess looked on curiously. "I'm sorry I was a jerk earlier. I usually get carried away with competition."

Sally smiled, "It's okay, Sonic. I figured you were just being all macho to try and impress me. But I was really just curious about Ken's power of flight. Sometimes I wish I had my own type of elemental strength."

"Well, you've got a lightning staff."

"Yes, but it's my Sol Emerald that charges it; without the emerald, it's just another staff."

Sonic brushed back his quills. "I need to go apologize to Amy too; she thinks I'm a jerk for…" Before he could finish, he noticed Amy running up to him. "Ams, speak of the devil."

"Shh!" she hushed, looking paranoid. "I thought I heard something like footsteps."

"It's probably just the others," Sonic assured her.

"But," Amy replied worriedly, "didn't the spider queen say that the Shinobi clan was on this island too?"

"Indeed, we are," said a voice. The team looked around both curiously and cautiously, but no other animal seemed to be present.

"Show yourself, stranger!" Sally called out.

"As you wish," said the voice. A blue chameleon with a red belly appeared in front of the heroes by switching off his invisibility skin-change. As he did so, the heroes soon found themselves surrounded by fourteen multi-colored chameleons.

As the heroes braced themselves for battle, the blue chameleon said, "Have no fear, we do not want a fight."

"What do you want then?" asked Sonic.

"To talk… My name is Valdez. I speak on behalf of my kin here; we are members of the Shinobi clan, Sonic the Hedgehog."

"You know me?" asked a bewildered Sonic.

Valdez nodded, "Indeed, your reputation as an adventurer has crossed the four corners of our world."

"You mean to tell me… Your from _my_ world?" gasped the blue hedgehog.

Valdez nodded, "Yes, the very same."

"Then how…?"

"Allow me to explain. Some time ago, our Bride of Constant Vigil had received messages from what she thought was the spirit world. As it turned out, those calls were brought on by a mystical cat from this alternate world. I believe her name was Blaze."

"Yes," nodded Sonic. "She called out to me too. That's why I came here."

"And that is why we are here; our clan leader sent the fifteen of us to scout for Warp Rings that would take us to the source of these cries of help. But when we cam here, we were soon overwhelmed by the Gossamer, Raiju and Yagyu clans, led by a mage of sorts calling herself the Iron Queen. Normally we would stand and fight, but we knew it would have been a losing battle. So we had no choice but to surrender and bow before this Queen."

"Man, I'm sorry to hear that," frowned the blue hedgehog.

Valdez added, "We had hoped that you or someone like you may come to challenge the Iron Queen, so that we would be free of her tyranny. And since we now know that there is hope, my kin and I would like to aid you in taking out the last of her ninja strongholds."

"Wow, that'd be a huge help!" smiled Sonic. "And I promise, after we take out this queen, me and my friends will open up a Warp Ring that'll take you home."

Valdez and the other chameleons bowed before him. "We are honored and humbled to fight alongside the greatest hero of two worlds."

"_LIES!"_ the voice of Blaze the Cat exploded in the distance, prompting Sonic and friends to follow after her scream.

.

"LIES!" screamed Blaze, as her body started to catch on fire in reaction to what Fiona had just told her. While Fiona was dropped to one knee in fear of being burned, Blaze pointed at her accursedly. "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK OF SUCH THINGS, YOU WRETCHED BEAST?"

Even Ken was shocked to see Blaze in such an enraged state. "Princess," he pleaded, "please. T-try to calm down, or you'll burn down the whole island."

Sonic was the first to dash into the scene, naturally. "Woah! What'd I miss? Not another girl fight, I hope."

"Stay out of this Sonic!" growled the burning she-cat.

Then Tails flew in. "Woah, what happened? Fiona, are you okay?"

Fiona, still on her knees, replied, "I've just told her the truth about the Iron Queen."

Again, Blaze's fire power poured from her paws. "NO! You saw a white face, and that was all!"

As the rest of the heroes came running into the scene, Sonic was at a loss. "Okay, okay, start over please, before the 'LIES' part when we came in."

Fiona rose to her feet and said, "Blaze asked me if I knew anything about the Iron Queen. I told her that I saw the Queen once, and I knew right away who she really was."

"What?" gasped Sally. "You didn't tell _us_ that."

Fiona shook her head, "It wasn't your business to know… But since you'll try to get it out of me anyway, I might as well just say it: The Iron Queen is a white cat, who looks exactly like-"

"Don't say it," Blaze hissed through her fangs. "Don't you _dare_ make such a bold assumption like that again!"

Fiona stated, "But Queen Hathor has been missing for nearly a month now…. Look, Blaze, I know it's hard to accept, but I speak the truth."

Amy whispered to Sonic, "Who's Queen Hathor again?"

"My mother!" growled Blaze, hearing her. "She would NEVER surrender to Robotnik! She would DIE first!"

Fiona sighed, feeling at a loss, when she noticed Tails nearby. She smiled at him and purred, "You can talk some sense into them for me, right big man?"

Tails nervously replied with, "M-me?"

"Sure," cooed Fiona as she knelt down in front of Tails to scratch his chin. "You know me better than anyone else, right? You said yourself that you trust me. It would mean so much to me if you could step in and-_Oof_!" Before she could finish, Sally stepped in while Fiona wasn't looking, and slammed her fist into Fiona's gut. Fiona fell back, winded.

"…Woah," gasped Sonic softly. "…That was kinda hot."

"I agree," smiled Ken, and the two of them gave each other a fist-bump.

Meanwhile, Sally looked down on Fiona and growled, "Don't bring him into this. And DON'T tell any lies regarding the Iron Queen unless you want another throw-down with mew and Bunnie."

Fiona weakly got back up on her feet while cupping her stomach. "Ehh… I… would never do a thing like that. You know me, Sally."

"I thought I knew you back in Acorn." Sally marched off, with Blaze marching behind her.

Tails ran up to Fiona and promised, "Don't worry, they'll see you're a good person. Cause I know you are."

Fiona smiled while still feeling rather dizzy. "Thanks, kiddo… You've always got my back, don't you?"

"To a fault," said Sonic as he scratched Tail's head. Then the blue hedgehog glared at the red vixen and frowned, "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, Fiona, but don't make me regret it."

Fiona doubled over, perhaps to bow but also to give in to her pain. "On my honor… What I've said about The Iron Queen is true, and Blaze… Blaze is going to have to accept it, sooner or later."

.

**-BONUS SCENE!-**

The team took to their motorboats and took off for Iron Dome Zone, Machine Labyrinth Isle. They were informed that the Raiju clan and possibly the Iron Queen herself would be found there. Right behind the two main boats was a larger green one, being ridden by the Shinobi chameleons.

Blaze denied Fiona to be in her boat, so the vixen stayed with Sonic and his team in the blue boat. She was crouched down at the boat's rear, with Tails and Amy looking on in wonder.

Meanwhile, Shadow handed Sonic the blue Chaos Emerald. "Here you go, Faker, courtesy of Rouge the Bat."

"Hey, thanks!" Sonic took it and let it absorb itself into him. "Speaking of Rouge, how's she doing?"

"She said she had a few things to take care of, but I have a strong feeling we'll see her again soon."

"Is she gonna join us in the adventure?"

"It's up to her. We'll see…"

.

Further away, in open water, Rouge was making waves on a ski boat in pursuit of the heroes. She was careful not to make her presence known to them. She wanted her arrival on the next island to be a special surprise.

.

**-CONGRATULATIONS!-**

**THE FOLLOWING CHARACTER HAS BEEN ADDED**

**TO YOUR ROSTER OF WARRIORS:**

**ROUGE THE BAT (Flight-Type)**

**Number of Warriors: 14**

.

**SELECT YOUR NEXT TEAM(S)*:**

**Team Fireworks (Blaze and Sally)- NEW!**

**Team Glory Hounds (Shadow and Antoine)- NEW!**

**Team Knuckledusters (Knuckles and Rotor)-NEW!  
**

**Team Rosy Rascals (Amy and Julie-Su)**

**Team Southern Comfort (Tails and Bunnie)- NEW!  
**

**Team Toriyama (Sonic and Ken)- NEW!**

*The Team or Teams with the most votes will run the next Zone; there may be unlockable Songs for certain Teams, so choose wisely!**  
**

.

**LOADING ZONE…**

.


	38. IRON DOME ZONE: Glory Hounds, Toriyama

.

**You Have Selected the Following Teams:**

**TEAM GLORY HOUNDS (Shadow and Antoine)**

**-You've unlocked a Bonus Song: "All Hail Shadow"!-**

**TEAM TORIYAMA (Sonic and Monkey Khan)**

**-You've unlocked a Bonus Song: "His World (Crush 40/Orchestra Mix)"!-**

**.**

**NOW LOADING…**

**.**

**38. "Who Puts Snare Drums in a Steam Factory? Seriously!"**

.

**Iron Dome Zone, formerly Machine Labyrinth Island.**

A steam-powered factory covering an entire island; no wonder there were always dark clouds in the sky of this forbidding place- those clouds were pollutants.

Upon landing on shore, which wasn't much of a shore anyway due to the metallic covering of the earth, Bunnie was particularly overwhelmed from the smog and coughed up a storm. "Ugh! Ack! …Don'tcha jest _love_ this 'fresh air?'" she asked Antoine sarcastically.

"Oui," replied the coyote. "About as much as we love, how Sonic would say, Ro-butt-nik. Yes?"

"Good one, Ant!" smiled the blue hedgehog who was in earshot. "I'll write that one down."

The green boat parked further up shore, looking as though it were a ghost ship as no riders were visible. But soon Valdez and his troop of chameleon ninjas faded into the scene. "We will disarm the Badniks," said Valdez to Sonic. "We'll leave the Raiju to you." Then he and his fellow chameleons vanished into thin air again.

The heroes found the main gates to the factory unlocked and easy to push open, which made Blaze's fur stand on end. "I don't like this," she murmured. "It's too easy."

"Maybe Valdez and the others unlocked the door already?" guessed Sonic with a shrug.

Upon investigating the main hall of the factory, the team came upon an odd sighting: A large silver dome with a large yellow switch on its top. Sonic recognized it immediately; "Oh hey, look! It's a capture capsule."

"Capture capsule?" blinked Sally.

"Yeah," smiled Sonic. "Me n' Tails used to unlock these things all the time. Eggman would trap our little woodland friends in there, then we'd come in and push that button on top and they all went running for freedom."

Tails scratched his chin. "Why would the Raiju leave one of these here?"

"Maybe they've trapped somebody," guessed Sonic with an angry glare at the capsule, "and locked them in that thing. Don't worry, I know how to fix it."

"Sonic, wait! I might be a…" gasped Sally, but he was already in mid-jump on his way to land on top of the yellow switch.

"Ta-da!" cheered Sonic as his body weight pushed down on the capsule's switch. But as he realized who really was inside the machine, he echoed with an embarrassed, "Ta-d'oh."

"YAH!" roared a gang of lynxes dressed in black with red bandanas and belts, as they came charging out of the capsule and rushed the heroes.

"The Raiju!" growled Blaze, but as she tried to summon a fireball she was drop-kicked by a lynx ninja.

Within seconds, the group was on the floor and bruised, while the lynxes dashed off into the Zone. Sonic jumped down and nervously asked, "Uh… You guys okay? You need a Ring Box, or something?"

"I need…" grumbled Blaze as she got back up, "…to KILL ME A NINJA!" As she said this, her body started to light on fire. "Sally, with me!"

"Got it," nodded the other princess, and they took off in a flash, one of them leaving a blazed trail.

Sonic snapped his fingers, "Monkey-butt! You're with me!"

"What? But, I thought you disliked me," replied a confused Ken.

"Yesterday's news; keep up with the times! Let's go!" The two of them hurried off after the girls.

Shadow couldn't help but stare at the emptied capture capsule in bewilderment. "It has its own release valve? …That's just stupid!" He then went in his own direction, with Antoine right behind him.

The others went in their own directions as well; Bunnie with Tails, Rotor with Knuckles, and Amy with Julie. And as for Fiona? She took one last look at the capsule as though she had discovered a clue within it, and ran down her own path.

.

**- IRON DOME ZONE -**

**-ACT I-**

**Selected Team: Glory Hounds (Shadow and Antoine)**

**Song: "All Hail Shadow" by Crush 40**

Most of the zone was a monotonous bronze, with twisting air vent pipes and extra-long conveyer belts, with giant snare drums and winged jet packs scattered randomly throughout. There were two main levels: the interior, with its overlapping runways; and the rooftop, with steam-blowing fans and circular paths designed to spin runners out of control.

There were no Badniks to speak of this time, as planned by the chameleon ninjas. However, this place was now crawling with plenty of lynx ninjas, armed with spears, bo-staffs, and even small bombs.

"These ninjas act more like punks!" growled Shadow, still reeling from getting bum-rushed by the lynxes. "They've just messed with the wrong hedgehog." He skated up a long, steep hill made of chrome steel before reeling around a loop-de-loop that took Shadow flying over a ramp, followed by a long jump into a pile of hovering Rings.

**Ring Count: 7**

He then landed onto another steel runway, straight into an obstacle of lynx ninjas armed with spears. Shadow jumped onto their heads using a homing attack similar to Sonic's; they fell on their backs then disappeared. On the end of the runway came a wall with snare drums nailed to it; by jumping on them, Shadow ricocheted off in a diagonal angle upwards, onto the next platform.

On the higher plane of chrome, Shadow and Antoine faced off against two lynx ninjas who were running toward them at full speed, armed with short swords.

"Alez!" shouted Antoine as he jumped into play, swinging his sword at them until they fell in submission.

Antoine then dashed for a small hole in the wall that was part of a long, twisting air vent pipe that sent him spiraling in all directions and into the ground level. In his momentum, Antoine went spinning into a ball and bowled himself through a line of Rings.

**Ring Count: 18**

Getting back onto his feet, Antoine whipped out his sword again as three lynxes charged at him with spears in hand. One by one, they fell to his sword.

"Out of my way!" growled Shadow as he was tagged into play. He spin-dashed through a weak wall and landed onto a snare drum, which ricocheted him upward to another drum, then a third. He landed on a level of the factory where he could see the roof. Shadow then jumped from a ledge where he found a winged jet pack, and floated upwards through Rings and past lynx ninjas on their own winged jetpacks, toward the rooftop.

**Ring Count: 24**

Unfortunately for Shadow, the corner of the highest platform was blocked by a lynx who was spinning like a corkscrew. There was no way for him to counter the attack in time, and collided with the wildcat.

**Ring Count: 0-4**

"Augh!" shouted the hedgehog; while vulnerable, he and his tag partner only managed to grab four Rings.

"I shall avenge you!" declared Antoine; he was tagged into play and stopped the lynx's spin with his sword. He then double-slashed through the enemy, knocking him out cold.

Antoine then sped forward across the rooftop, avoiding the lynxes that jumped from out of nowhere in an attempt to drop-kick him. He then bounced from one conveyer belt to another, letting their movement give him extra speed as he flew through more Rings and past more jumping lynxes.

**Ring Count: 15**

On the last conveyer belt, there was a dark metallic hammer mechanism that tried to squish him in mid-run. Antoine just barely missed it, and took a ramp downward to the mid-section of the factory. On his way down, he flew across a loop-de-loop cluttered with Rings.

**Ring Count: 25**

"Out of my way!" shouted Shadow as he skated himself into play, just in time to knock a sword-wielding ninja on his back.

Shadow jumped across air vents that were puffing out enough steam to give him some air lift, before he spun into a pipeline that took him on a wild ride through the walls, and back down to the ground level. There, he encountered two more spinning ninjas; he couldn't counter them, but did manage to jump over them in time.

Shadow then spin-dashed across the floor, through a wall and across three more snare drums to the mid-section of the factory, where he found another winged jet-pack. He grabbed it, and it took him on a trip slightly upwards, where he found more Rings. While at the same time, some gliding ninjas on their own jet-packs poised hardly a threat, just an obstacle for Shadow to get across.

**Ring Count: 37**

As Shadow landed on a high platform, he tagged in Antoine because more annoying ninjas were coming their way. "En guarde!" cheered the coyote. Antoine made an impressive sweep attack through one, two, three, four ninjas that were spinning uncontrollably in his path. As a reward, some Rings started to fall from the sky.

**Ring Count: 46**

Before he could reach the Goal, Antoine's path was suddenly blocked by five ninjas armed with spears. All at once, they threw their spears at him. Any other hero may have had just one window of safety open to him; however, Antoine was armed with his own weapon, and so as he double-jumped he spun like a corkscrew in the air, knocking back three of the spears. The ninjas were then helpless against his sweep attacks. And from there, a quick spin-dash for the goal line.

.

**-ACT I: CLEARED!-**

**Ring Total: 46**

**Bonus Points: 5,000**

**Rank: A ( Good!)**

.

**-IRON DOME ZONE-**

**-ACT II-**

**Selected Team: Toriyama (Sonic and Monkey Khan)**

**Song: "His World," Crush 40 mixed with Orchestra**

"Trick ME with a capsule, will ya?" sneered Sonic as he dashed forward.

With a spin-dash, the blue hedgehog flew up a steep uphill climb leading into a loop-de-loop and a ramp that took him spiraling from one platform to another.

**Ring Count: 18**

Sonic then landed on top of a steam pipe that exhaled a puff of white smoke that gave him a bouncy lift to another puff of steam, carrying him to a higher platform where there were lynx ninjas tossing small bombs. Sonic used Homing Attack on them before their grenades could hit him- one, two, three and they were out.

"The honor is mine," mused Ken as he was tagged into play. He could have juped onto a jet pack to go upwards, but instead he used his faster lucky cloud. But as he lifted himself upward and across Rings, he was careful not to get attacked by the lynx ninjas that zoomed by on their jet packs.

**Ring Count: 23**

Ken landed on the rooftop of the factory, where there were spinning wheels and scattered conveyer belts. He used those mechanisms to gain speed so that he could easily clear the spinning ninja lynxes headed his way. Ken jumped onto a conveyer belt that was going in reverse; he wasn't fast enough to run across and so…

"Here we go!" smiled Sonic. He dashed across the conveyer belt with ease, then jumped onto a spinning wheel that shot him straight into the air where there were Rings hovering.

**Ring Count: 29**

As Sonic jumped onto another conveyer belt moving in reverse, he saw a differently dressed lynx, one wearing only blue boots and blue gloves with extra long nails on them. He was Lightning Lynx, a specialized ninja assassin. Lightning was sharpening his claws while standing on the other side of Sonic's reverse conveyer belt. Sonic had to double-jump across the platform just to get to Lightning, and when he did, the cat let loose a barrage of scratch attacks.

**Ring Count: 0-3**

"Darn it!" cursed the blue hedgehog, while his enemy wasn't letting up on the scratch attacks. Sonic tried to double-jump over the brown-furred nuisance, but his an invisible wall; he would have to fight in order to progress. So, as soon as Lightning tired from his slashing, Sonic used Homing Attack to smack himself in ball form into Lightning's head three times consistently. He then landed back onto the reversed conveyer belt, double-jumped, and used Homing Attack three times once again. This made Lightning fall over in defeat.

Sonic dashed past a trap door that pounded up and down on his path, and then went spinning straight down a corkscrew slide back into the factory's interior. He was still spinning when he came to solid ground, fast enough to get past the grenades that were being dropped on him from above.

**Ring Count: 15**

"This is my fight," declared Ken as he was tagged into play. He double-jumped onto his lucky cloud to soar up toward the gliding ninjas that were throwing bombs. With his staff, he whacked them out of the air like flies to a swatter. He was rewarded with a cluster of mid-air Rings.

**Ring Count: 21**

Ken then landed on a platform that collapsed, taking him straight down to ground level, where two more ninjas were spinning uncontrollably his way. Like Antoine before him, he was armed with a special weapon that stopped the lynxs' spins on contact. The monkey then did a spiral jump of his own, knocking them out cold one at a time.

Ken then dashed along the runway and into a wall where snare drums promised to bounce him left, right, left and right again, up to a higher plain. When he reached the top, he found a Ten-Ring Box sitting on top of a steam pipe.

**Ring Count: 31**

Once the box was smashed, the pipe let out a puff of steam that shot the monkey straight up. His only way of avoiding a dangerous fall was to grab ahold of a winged jet pack. As he started to glide, he noticed that he was soaring over a very long spike pit, and that this particular jet pack didn't have enough power to take him fully across. Another was waiting for him halfway; he jumped for it, just as a sneaky lynx was gliding his way with bombs in had. He avoided the attack, and glided safely across the pit while snagging more Rings.

**Ring Count: 42**

"Here I come!" shouted Sonic as he landed in front of Ken. He used Homing Attack to slam himself into an oncoming ninja armed with a long spear. In his momentum, he zipped across the runway and up a steep hill, followed by a loop-de-loop and a ramp that lifted him onto a grind rail. The rail was rusty and causing sparks to fly from Sonic's sneakers, but what was more dangerous was the fact that bombs seemed to be thrown from all sides. Sonic had to jump from one rail to another, then back again, then to a third, to avoid getting smoked by those pesky grenades.

**Ring Count: 60**

He thought he was going to make it to the end of the rail, when a rogue bomb hit him from behind.

**Ring Count: 0-8**

"Come on," he moaned upon landing.

Then an eerie sound caught his ears; doors were slamming behind him, and one trap door was about to fall right onto his head. He would have to make a mad dash forward to avoid getting flattened by one… two… three… four, five, six, seven, eight-nine-ten-eleven-twelve doors! They were coming down faster with the longer he ran, but somehow he made it…

**Shoo-shoo-shoo-shoo-shoo-shoo-SHOOM!**

…straight into a dead end, or so it seemed.

Suddenly, Lightning Lynx returned, this time armed with a spear. "This guy again?" groaned the blue hedgehog. "He just won't give up, will he?"

Lightning lunged at Sonic with his spear thrusting; Sonic jumped out of the way but Lightning was quick to move backwards to try and catch Sonic in mid-jump. Luckily though, he missed.

"My turn then?" asked Monkey Khan.

"This one's mine," insisted Sonic. While Ken's cloud certainly would have made things easier, Sonic felt that this brown cat was his own personal challenge. And so, he jumped over and over again, avoiding the spear thrashings, before using Homing Attack on Lightning's exposed head. After three consecutive head injuries, Lightning dropped his spear.

Enraged, the brown lynx came jumping at Sonic with his claws out, with extra ferocity in his stride. Sonic got hit by this attack…

**Ring Count: 0-5**

…but the room was small enough for him to recover a few Rings. And, while in his vulnerable state, Sonic let loose his Homing Attack on Lightning once more. One, two, three, four, five hits in a row.

_POW!_ Lightning was K.O.'d at last, and instead of just falling on his back he fell down a small pit in the ground. After his fall, the right most trap door slid open, allowing Sonic to spin-dash straight into the Goal line.

.

**-ACT II: CLEARED!-**

**Ring Total: 5**

**Bonus Points: 5,000**

**Rank: B+ (Not Bad!)**

.

With the Zone cleared, the gang regrouped in the heart of the factory. Together they marched through the dark hallway, looking in all directions for their next target.

"Conquering Storm, Bride of the Raiju!" hollered Blaze. "We know you're here somewhere! Your horde is defeated and you're surrounded; come out and face us!"

Hiding in a corner where it was too dark to see her, the long-eared Raiju bride in a straw paddy hat stood by a computer laptop. Through the shadows, she grinned a wickedly fanged smile. "It's not over yet," her voice echoed across the walls. "Not by a long shot!"

She threw a switch.

**SHOOM! **A wall slammed down behind the heroes like a trap door, walling them from their exit. Soon afterwards, more walls came falling down from the ceiling, threatening to flatten the heroes.

"Spread out!" yelled Sonic, as he pulled Tails and Sally out of the way of a falling wall.

**SHOOOM, SHOOM, SHOOM, SHOOM, SHOOM!**

"…Guys?" whimpered Amy, as she felt trapped in a small space. "S-Sonic? Tails? Knuckles? Where are you?"

Monkey Khan was nearby; he hopped onto his lucky cloud to find a way over the new walls, but was unsuccessful.

.

"Great," muttered Blaze as she dusted herself with Shadow and Bunnie nearby. "Another cheap trick."

.

"Where'd everybody go?" wondered Knuckles aloud, with Julie-Su and Rotor standing by.

.

Sonic, Tails and Sally looked to an open door to their left. "There's only one way out, and it's that way," he observed.

"It's likely to be a trap," frowned Sally.

"We don't have much choice," shrugged Tails. "We should just stick together 'till we rejoin the others."

.

Clearly, Conquering Storm had no intention on reuniting the heroes; she was counting on them to be singled out and knocked off one by one. Her intentions were confirmed when she spoke into a small microphone: "Send in the clones."

In four pitch-black rooms, lights were turned on: A pair of red eyes, a pair of green eyes, a pair of yellow eyes, and one small red diamond.

**.**

**LOADING…**

.


	39. Dark Reflections, Part 1

**.**

**39: "Dark Reflections, Part 1"**

**.**

Conquering Storm, Bride of the Raiju Clan, was never known to play fair.

In her darkest hour, when most of her ninja warriors were captured and subdued by the unsuspected team-up of Freedom Fighters and Shinobi chameleons, she activated her secret weapon.

**SHING!**

With the flick of a switch, she transformed her base of Iron Dome Zone into a labyrinth, with the main lights switched off to cause panic and walls dividing the heroes to cause confusion. It worked; the heroes were now separated and no longer a whole unit, making them easy pickings for the four robots that were waiting in the wings. She flicked another switch, and released them from behind sealed walls.

"Find those Freedom Fighters," she commanded them through a microphone, "and take no prisoners!"

As the shadowed robots marched forward, Conquering Storm took refuge from a high rise, where she was met with her most loyal of soldiers, Lightning Lynx.

"Storm," he purred with a frown, "do you think it wise to let these robots finish them off? They're basically taking our job."

She replied with a smirk. "Heh. This will be fun to watch; besides, I want to see if Robotnik's newest models will live up to their expectations."

"What if they fail?" gulped Lightning.

"What if, indeed. Then we'll prove once and for all that the Raiju Clan is the greatest force in all of Mobius, and that our Queen has no equal. Either way, we win."

Her confidence impressed him enough to crack a smile; whatever doubts he had left, he kept to himself.

.

"Nicole, can you come in? …Nicole? ….Nicole!"

"It's no use, Sally," frowned Tails. "We're sealed in well enough to block off all communication from the outside."

The princess of Acorn sighed. "The least we should be worried about is walking around in the dark; if only there was a source of light in here."

"Did someone say light?" With a snap of her fingers, Blaze the Cat lit up a small flame from her index finger. "I'm happy to oblige."

As the room was lit, Sally found herself standing by Sonic as well as Tails and Blaze. "Princess Blaze," smiled the squirrel. "Where did you come from?"

Blaze smiled, "It's not my first time in these sewers; Marine and I have them almost completely memorized. But I wasn't able to keep up with Shadow; I think he's been trying to use Chaos Control to teleport through the maze."

"Do you know where the others are?" asked Sonic.

Blaze replied, "I know that Knuckles and Julie Su aren't far from here, and Amy is with Ken. I'm just not so sure about Bunnie, Rotor, Antoine or Fiona."

Tails suggested, "What if I try to fly around?"

"It's a gamble," said Blaze worriedly, "but it could help. I'll go with you to keep your way lit. Sally, does your computer thing-a-ma-jib have a flashlight?"

"No," smiled Sonic, "but I do." He magically summoned the Chaos Emerald he won from Rouge the Bat.

"Be careful Sonic," warned Sally. "We don't wanna draw any attention from those ninjas."

"Pfff, ninjas," scoffed Sonic as he rolled his eyes. "You ever see 'em run as fast as me?"

"No, but I did see you fall for one of their traps."

"…Darn. I was hoping you forgot about that."

"It was ten minutes ago!"

Tails glanced to Blaze and whispered, "You think we should leave those two alone?"

"They'll be fine," Blaze whispered back. "They can handle the Raiju."

"Yeah, I know… I was just wondering if they might kill each other."

Blaze shrugged, and led the way to the far left route, cueing Sally and Sonic to go to the far right.

.

Shadow had wandered off alone and was running through the maze like a rat, when he finally heard some familiar voices in the distance. As he ran into a small room, a wall came up from behind him, sealing him inside.

"Well," smirked Knuckles, "one thing I gotta say about this place: it never gets dull."

With Knuckles was Julie-Su, who lit the room up with a light from her metallic quill-lock. "Having trouble finding the way out?" she asked Shadow.

The black hedgehog replied, "I just need to know where I can find the ninjas that caged us in here, so I can thank them personally for this charade."

Julie started to stare at the walls, while activating an X-Ray scanner deep within her right eye. "I've been scanning these walls, and what I've found is that this whole place is designed to be some kind of water canal that powers the plant."

"We haven't seen any water since we've been here," observed Knuckles.

Julie nodded, "I've noticed some sealed pipes while wandering around here. They're keeping the water out, so we stay in."

Knuckles then cracked his… well, his knuckles. "Why don't we just knock these fake walls down?"

"Because," warned Julie-Su, "we don't know what- or who- may be right behind them. I'm going to try and hack into Sally's cell phone so that we can meet up with her at a rendezvous point, somewhere in the center."

As she said this, one of the trap walls moved to the side, blocking off Knuckles and Shadow. By the time she heard it slam, she was already alone. "Guys? …Guys?"

.

"Great," muttered Knuckles in the pitch black. "_Now_ what do we do?"

Shadow looked around and met with a pair of glowing green eyes. "…Hey, Knucklehead. I never knew you had green eyes."

"What're you talking about? My eyes are blue… Well, they _were _blue; then they turned purple, now they're blue again… It's kind of a long story."

"Then whose eyes am I looki-" –**WHAM!**

Shadow went flying through a false wall after being punched with the mighty force of a robotic arm. The hole in the wall gave off a light emulating from the other room. What it revealed was a robotic form of the red echidna, with green irises and long black talons for knuckles.

"What in the…" gasped the flesh and blood echidna. "You're… me?"

Dark Metal Knuckles did not reply; instead it lunged forward at his enemy.

.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the drilled wall, Shadow was lying face down, when suddenly a black figure with yellow irises leaned over and looked down on him. The hedgehog gasped, realizing that it was a robotic copy of himself: Dark Metal Shadow.

It picked him up by his heels and tossed him into the air before karate-kicking him across the room.

Shadow, his ego bruised, got up and brushed off dirt from his arms. "Okay… One Faker's bad enough, but this tears it! **Chaos… SPEAR**!"

The clone reacted by copying the Chaos Spear with one of his own, except it was a laser beam from its hand. The forces of energy collided and consumed each other. It seemed as though the clone's firepower matched Shadow's completely. The force of the impact was enough to knock down all nearby fall-down walls, shoving them off their hinges and giving Shadow room to roam.

But both he and his clone weren't ready to leave just yet; two more minutes of copy-cat fighting would take place before Shadow finally realized that this was a losing battle.

.

_**zzzzzzzzz**__-Sally, do you read?-__**zzzzzzzzzzzz**__-Sally, it's Julie-Su. Over-__**zzzzzzzz**_

"Julie?" gasped Sally as she opened up her cell phone. "How did you?"

"_No time to explain. Right now, I'm making m way to the center of the maze. I'm sending you a signal from my cyber-lock. Do you see it?"_

Sally noticed a red blinking dot on her phone's monitor. "Roger that." She looked up to her traveling companion; "Sonic! I think we've found a way-"

"Shh! Hold that thought, Sal." Sonic was up ahead, listening in on the echoes of battle in the distance. Curious as a cat, he decided to move forward.

"Sonic, wait up!" Sally groaned in frustration as she was blindly led by the hedgehog. "Look, Julie's making progress. We may find the others this way."

But Sonic's focus was on the flash of red lights up ahead; "Look!" he said as he pointed forward.

Those distant red lights blinked.

"I know those red eyes anywhere," huffed the hedgehog. He dashed forward.

"Wait!" called Sally, but he was already a blur by then.

Sonic collided with Dark Metal Sonic at the end of the hall; as their hands clasped, Sonic realized that this clone was far stronger than he remembered. "You're… you're not… Metal…!"

"Correction. I. Am. Dark. Metal."

While it was an almost exact replica of Metal Sonic, this one's blue shade was almost as dark as midnight blue. Also, his spines were longer and sharper, like scythes. And it was definitely strong, as it threw Sonic across the turn of a corner. Its spin-dash was sharp enough to slice through the steel walls, and would have sliced right through Sonic had he not ducked out of the way in time. Dark Metal Sonic started to run with rockets in his heels, coaxing his fleshy counterpart to follow.

"Get back here, you fraud!"

.

"I'll get you, you dirty copycat!" growled Knuckles at his robotic clone, while racing it down a hall.

.

"Raaaaah!"

.

"AAAAUUGH!"

.

Dark Metal Sonic was running in one direction down a long hallway, Dark Metal Knuckles in the opposite direction. Both of them were being tailed by their flesh-and-blood counterparts. They met somewhere in the middle, and once they recognized each other, their eyes blinked as though they spoke to each other telepathically. Then their rocket shoes boosted them straight up into the air, causing the real Sonic and Knuckles to nearly run their fists into each other.

"Woah!" they both yelped as they skid to a close stop.

"Sonic! Is that really you?"

"Of course it's really me! Is that really _you_, Knucklehead?"

"Did you see a Robo-Me coming down this way?"

"I dunno, I was busy chasing down a Robo-_Me_!"

"You mean Metal Sonic?"

"No, I mean Metal-Metal Sonic. Nega must've taken that idea from Eggman and doubled it."

"Correction," said Shadow as he suddenly phased into the scene via Chaos Control. "He's tripled it; there's a Metal Shadow running around here too."

Sonic paused to grin, "So… you're telling me there's a Fake Faker now? How ironic."

Shadow was about to retort, when suddenly a faint, child-like voice whispered through the hall: _"Can you feel the sunshine? Does it brighten up your day…?"_

"…Was that Tails?" wondered Sonic as his ears twitched, recognizing the strange voice.

"It came from this way," replied Shadow, as he skated toward the far left of the hall. Sonic and Knuckles followed close behind.

.

Blaze and Tails were making progress through the maze, though barely. A familiar face ran around the corner toward them.

"Ken!" gasped Blaze in relief. "Where's Amy. Wasn't she with you?"

"She was," nodded Monkey Khan. "We were separated by those nonsensical moving-"

**SHING! **

"…walls."

A new wall went up, separating Blaze and Ken from Tails. The royal cat gasped and called out, "Tails! Tails, can you hear me? Stay where you are, I'll find a way to get past this wall!"

.

Tails was already on edge, being alone in the dark- not that he mined, as foxes had night vision. But what had him really spooked was that he was now hearing his own voice, singing softly in the shadows.

"_Reach out for the sunshine, forget about the rain._

_Just think about the good times, and they will come back again…"_

"Hello?" peeped the little fox. "Is somebody there? Do you need help?"

All he could see was a small figure hiding behind a wall, with one small red light swaying back and forth like a lantern.

"_Feel the sunshine…"_

"S-Sonic?" warned Tails as his balled fists started to tremble. "If that's you playing around, I'm gonna-"

"Play? ….YoU wAnna plaY wITh Me?" The red lantern suddenly lifted itself into view.

"…S….Sonic?"

The creature came out of its hiding place, with two propellers from its rear giving it lift. It hovered its way closer and closer to its target. "CoMe plAy wiTh me, TailS! **C-c-c-c-c-c**oMe, pLay witH mE!"

Tails couldn't help but panic at what he saw. "Wha…. Wha? …Uhh… Eehhhh…. SON-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-IC!"

.

Hearing Tails' cry, Sonic and company stopped just outside the doorway of which Tails was now running for his life. The fox child ran straight into Shadow's fuzzy white chest.

"Tails!" Sonic gasped. "Are you okay?"

With his tails puffed up like that of a frightened cat, Tails pointed with a trembling finger. "…Th-th-th-there! Over th-there…!"

The boys looked up to see a red lantern flying their way. As the creature came into light, they could see that it was nothing more than an over-stuffed, over-stitched, google-eyed doll that resembled Tails in almost every way- all the way down to the spinning tail propellers. The only main difference was the red diamond-shaped light hanging from its forehead… and the fact that it was a doll.

As it spoke, its recorded voice even matched Tails', only the playback had a bit of static, as it the doll was aged. "**A-a-a-a-a-are** tHese My nEw **f-f-f-f-f**RieNds?" it purred.

While the others stared with their jaws hanging out, Shadow's left eye twitched. "What, the hell…?"

The Tails Doll stretched out its mittened hands toward the black hedgehog.. "Awww, you lOok **s-s-s-**sooOoo saaaaD. You looK like yOu **c-c-c-**ouLd usE a Huu**uuu**uG."

"What… the hell?" Shadow echoed with a slightly higher pitch.

"HeeeEeere. LeT me huG You!" As it drew closer to Shadow, he could see small bolts of lightning emulating from its paws; it was poised to electrocute him! This called for an emergency solution.

**BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG…!** Went a barrage of gunfire at the unsuspecting doll. Its body was riddled with holes, as well as one bullet piercing through its dangling right eye. Tails looked away, and saw that Shadow was firing his guns at the Tails Doll from a safe vantage point.

As he saw the small robot fall to the floor, Shadow exclaimed, "I officially hate dolls!" Then fired one final shot: **BANG!**

"Scatter! Now!" called out Sonic to the others. On his command, Knuckles and Tails darted to the left, while Sonic and Shadow ran right.

Though its midsection was now torn, the Tails Doll remained active. It weakly got to its feet. Optimistically, it floated around saying, "**Ooooh**, I gEt it. YoU're plaYing Hide And Seek. _Iiiii'll fiiIiiind YoooOooOooU…_!"

.

Neither Amy nor Bunnie could take it anymore; the claustrophia-inducing maze drove them to use Piko-Piko Hammer and robotic fist respectfully, tearing down one thin break-away wall after another, until finally their paths crossed.

"Bunnie!"

"Sugah!"

A flash of fur zipped past them.

"Antoine?" they both gasped in surprise.

The coyote skid to a halt, realizing that he had passed by his allies. "Sacre bleu-cheese!" he smiled with a pant. "I thought I was never to be getting out of here alive!"

"Leave it t' us, Sugah-Twan," smiled Bunnie, as she and Amy started to form a path of pulverized walls.

.

"No… This can't be!" gasped Conquering Storm as she watched the mayhem unfold from a computer monitor. "At this rate they'll be out of the maze! …There's only one thing to do: Lightning! Open all of the pipe valves and flood this place."

"But… w-won't that drown them?"

His superior shot him an evil glare.

"Right. Duh. As you wish, Your Excellency."

As her servant zipped off, Storm muttered to herself. "I don't really care if this undoes Robotnik's robots; this game has gone on long enough."

.

Deep within the ventilation system stalked Fiona Fox. She was far more concerned with matters other than finding friends in the maze of horrors. She let her nose and ears lead the way, while her mind was clouded in deep thought.

"_Why waste your time with these so-called 'friends?'"_ came a haunting womanly voice.

Fiona clasped her head, knowing that it was the Iron Queen using magic to enter her mind.

"You're here… Aren't you?" she asked out loud as a chill ran down her spine.

"_I am everywhere, my dear Fiona. I rule this kingdom, and as we speak I am setting my sights on the floating paradise known as Avian."_

"It won't work. There are too many out there that will fight you."

"_Yes, and they will all fail. But you don't have to be one of them. Observe."_

A panel slot flew open before Fiona, and she could see sunlight beaming from it. It was a way out of the building, and the hole was just big enough for her to crawl through.

"_Abandon this hopeless quest, Fiona. Join me, and I will forgive you of all past transgressions."_

Fiona paused, then replied with, "I've come too far to turn back now."

"_Such a fire in your spirit. I admire it; if only my other subjects had such gusto, then perhaps the ninja clans would not have failed me."_

Fiona gasped, remembering that she was still part of a clan.

"_Oh, yes. Do remind yourself of those precious spiders. And their noble Bride; what a shame if something were to happen to her, now that I know her location."_

"You wouldn't! …You couldn't!"

"_You know that my punishments for failure can be most dire."_

"Leave them alone. They never betrayed you anyway; they've kept their end of the bargain."

"_But Fiona, dear, you are still one of them. Should you betray me, then the whole clan must suffer… Do them, and yourself, this one little favor and leave these heroes to me."_

Fiona took a few deep breaths while staring at the open slot in the wall. Escape… it looked so close… so easy…

"_What do you owe these Freedom fighters, anyway? Nothing. Forget about them. Think of your clan. _They_ are your family now."_

She was right. Fiona hated to admit it, but the Iron Queen was right. She wasn't a Freedom Fighter anymore, she was a ninja. And the clan always had to come first.

She took one last look at that opening in the wall…

.

**To Be Continued…**


	40. Dark Reflections, Part 2

.

**40. Dark Reflections, Part 2**

.

As water began to slowly trickle through the maze, Sonic found himself speeding aimlessly from corner to corner, starting to feel desperate in his search for both his clone and a way out. When at last, he came to a large opening near the heart of the factory. There he was reunited with two other warriors, each running in from different sides.

"Knuckles!" cheered Sonic.

"Shadow!" cheered Knuckles.

"Faker!" cheered Shadow.

Suddenly, the evil metal clones appeared from around the other corners, proof that they were still hot on the tails of the heroes. This time, they said the names of their respectable clones with ire in their voices:

"Sonic."

"Knuckles."

"_Faker_."

All three robots charged at their designated targets, each colliding with their fleshy foes with the force of a cannonball. But the heroes were already driven enough to feel no pain; a melee commenced.

Knuckles lashed out a hurricane of punches, but each was countered by Dark Metal Knuckles' thick arms.

Sonic tried to spin through Dark Metal Sonic, but the clone jumped away as fast as Sonic could dash. He soon found himself spinning through a wall, revealing Rotor on the other side.

"Hey, Sonic!" cheered the walrus.

"Hey!" Sonic cheered back, right before he was tackled by his dark robot clone.

Shadow tried to warp from one side of the room to another, but each time his clone was able to warp in the same fashion, always meeting him on the other side of the warp with its golden eyes.

"This is hopeless!" panted Shadow. "It's like he knows my moves before I even make them!"

"I know!" called out Sonic nearby. "Strange, isn't it?"

In frustration, Shadow tried a desperate move, to warp toward a trap wall in hopes that Dark Metal Shadow would warp itself into the center of that wall. It worked; Dark Metal Shadow started to struggle as it found itself locked in steel. "HA!" cheered Shadow.

But the clone had one last copied move of Shadow's to showcase: it started to glow red, and the heat from its core was unmistakable. It was about to perform a Chaos Blast!

"Uh-oh," gasped Shadow. "…RUN!"

He grabbed Sonic and Knuckles by their arms before the Chaos Blast hit them; it obliterated all of the walls surrounding the area, but amazingly the clones were undamaged by the blast. Their pursuit continued.

.

By now, Rotor has been running away from the three-way melee, partially because he had no way of helping in the fight, and partially because he heard screaming coming from another path in the maze.

"_Help! Help, somebody! Anybody!"_ It was Tails' voice.

"Hang on, little buddy! …whew… I'm coming," panted the walrus.

He found Tails curled up in a corner, panting heavily from running. "Tails," huffed Rotor as he too was out of breath. "You okay?"

"It's… after me…" panted Tails weakly.

"What? Who's after you?"

"The… tails robot…. doll….. thing!"

"The what?"

A pair of red lights peered from around a corner, aimed at the exhausted fox. The creature's silhouette then started to fire a small red laser from the gem on its forehead, burning through the bottom part of one of the trap walls. It then pushed down hard on the unhinged wall, hoping it would crush his target.

"_A__**aa**__shes, a__**aa**__shes, we all fall DoWn!" _sang the doll.

While Tails was too weak to move, Rotor saw that something was starting to bear down on the two of them. "Lookout!" he yelled, as he frantically grabbed Tails and shoved him out of the way.

Tails rolled into a ball momentarily, just as he heard the booming crash. He righted himself and gasped, "Rotor?"

Though Tails Doll succeeded in knocking down the wall, it failed to hit its target. It ran away before Tails could retaliate. But instead, Tails was focused on the grey-blue arm stretched out on the floor, the only thing of Rotor that wasn't under the weight of the steel slab.

"Rotor…. ROTOR! NO!"

A flash of lightning responded; Tails was too scared to turn around to see that it was a monkey and not a robot that was headed his way.

.

Dark Metal Knuckles tore through one wall after another with its forbidding claws, followed by Dark Metals Shadow and Sonic, when at last they found their targets trapped in a corner, panting weakly. Sonic and company had no other choice but to resume the melee.

Fist met with claw, kick met with swipe, spine met with scythe, and head met with iron-clad head. Sonic, Knuckles and Shadow were starting to look worse for wears as each blow they made seemed to take little to no effect. Their clones were only getting stronger, and they were getting weaker. Finally, one of them couldn't take it anymore.

"TIME OUT!" roared Knuckles, making everyone stop in place. " …Huddle, you guys!"

The metal doppelgangers paused while they still hovered over their targets, unsure of what they were doing while the heroes put their heads together. Then the robots themselves formed a huddle, perhaps to try and counter the hero huddle.

"Okay," whispered Knuckles to the hedgehogs. "I think these guys were meant to attack whoever they were designed to look like, and that's why we can't beat 'em."

Sonic, meanwhile, peeked up to see if the robots were spying on them. Dark Metal Sonic was doing the same, and so they both ducked back into their respectable huddles.

"It's true," nodded Shadow. "Sonic can't outrun Fake Sonic, and I can't out-warp Fake Shadow."

"And I can't out-fight Fake Knuckles, so let's each take a different metal-head and see if that changes things."

"Got it!" smiled Sonic as he clasped a fist. "I'll take the ugly one."

"He means you, Knuckles."

"What!"

"I meant_ you_, Shadow. Although he's right; you're not exactly pretty, Knucklehead."

"Hey!"

"I'll take Fake Knuckles, you take Fake Faker," said Shadow to the echidna.

"Got it," nodded Knuckles. "…Wait, fake-faker? I thought they were all fake."

Sonic pointed to himself. "He means me!"

"Oh, right! Got it, got it." Knuckles then he pressed his fists against those of his teammates. "Ready?"

"Break!" they cheered, as they clapped once and separated. While the hedgehogs readied themselves to run, Knuckles dove into the ground in a furious burrow.

Sonic ran to a corner and called out to Dark Metal Shadow: "Yo, Faker! Betcha I can outrun you!"

"Who. Are. You. Calling. Faker?" responded the black robot. A chase ensued, just as planned.

Dark Metal Sonic looked perplexed as his target vanished. He prepared to run, when- **POW!** He was thrown through the air by Knuckles, who burrowed up from underneath him, just as he did to Sonic upon their first encounter on Angel Island. And just like that first encounter, Knuckles laughed at Dark Metal Sonic as it crashed onto the ground. This enraged Dark Metal Sonic to chase after the echidna instead of the blue hedgehog.

Dark Metal Knuckles looked lost as he found himself alone in the room with the mysterious black-furred hedgehog.

Shadow cracked his own knuckles. "It's just you and me now…"

.

Blaze cringed as her feet started to kick up water from the ground. She knew this wasn't good, and time was running out for her and her friends. Desperately, she started to call out names: "Sonic! …Tails! Sally! Ken! …Anyone near?"

"We're here, Blaze!" called out Julie-Su, as she and Sally ran in from one corner.

"Oh, thank goodness, you made it to the center," sighed Blaze in relief. "Sally, where is Sonic? I thought he was with you."

"He was," said a bitter Sally with crossed arms. "Then he ditched me to chase after a robot…. Who ditches a princess?"

"I've been guiding her through the maze," explained Julie, "but we haven't run into anyone else yet."

Suddenly, one of the trap walls came crashing down, revealing Bunnie Rabbot as its drop-kicker. Right behind her were Amy and Antoine.

"Well," smiled Julie, "talk about perfect timing."

"Ze water, she is rising," gulped Antoine.

"We've noticed," nodded Blaze. "I think our hosts want to get this over with quickly."

"…help… you guys."

This came from Tails, as e and monkey Khan came in through another pathway on a white cloud. The cloud was also carrying an unconscious and badly injured…

"Rotor!" gasped Sally in horror. As she and the others ran to the cloud she asked, "What happened to him?"

Ken frowned, "Apparently, some robot clone of Tails tried to kill him. Rotor pushed him out of the way."

Tails was still very shaken as he fought back tears. "He… he saved me. He could've gotten killed."

Amy was quick to embrace him; "Aw, Tails…"

"Quick Amy, use your Healing power," begged the fox.

Amy gave him a small nod, "I'll do what I can."

By now, the water was covering their knees; Antoine started to panic. "_Eek!_ Quick! Let us be getting to ze exit, se vouz plais!"

"Aw come on Suga-Twan, a lil' water never hurt nobody."

Blaze frowned, "No, but a whole room of it can kill. Ken, make room on that cloud for everybody. I'll burn us a way out."

Tails, meanwhile, was staring at the unconscious Rotor, mumbling, "He risked his life for me….." He sniffled, rubbed his nose, then suddenly balled his fists. In a rush of adrenalin, the little fox jumped off the nimbus cloud and started to take off in the opposite direction, with his tails acting as vertical propellers.

"Tails, wait!" gasped Amy. "Where are you going?"

In a voice perhaps too weak for Amy to hear, Tails replied gruffly, "To do what I should've done before…!"

.

Sonic was now making his way to the end of the maze, but now he was treading semi-deep water. Dark Metal Shadow was following him, but was now airborne thanks to rockets in his feet.

The clone noticed that Sonic was panting heavily; "What's. Wrong. Faker? Afraid. Of. A. Little. Water?"

Sonic, lacking the power to just dash across the rising water, simply replied, "No… Just the drowning part… but I can see you're afraid to touch it!"

Sonic skid to a halt, causing the waves he was kicking to flush backward onto Dark Metal Shadow. This caused the robot to spark a bit, and shudder. It tried to retaliate with a Chaos Spear, but Sonic was quick to dodge it. Again, the hedgehog kicked up water at the clone, making it hesitate and sizzle. This gave Sonic a brilliant idea.

"Follow me, Faker!" He started to run in the opposite direction, where he hoped to find one of the other robot clones.

.

Shadow had Dark Metal Knuckles on the ropes, so to speak, as he flung it into a wall, making it expose its weak neck region. Water was rising to his knees, by now, so he was careful not to be near Dark Metal Knuckles as he started to burst into sparks.

Sonic returned, still kicking up water, with Dark Metal Shadow close behind. "Faker! Toss me a Knucklehead!" he called out to Shadow.

Shadow picked up Dark Metal Knuckles, but both he and Dark Metal Shadow echoed, "Stop. Calling. Me. FAKER!"

Dark Metal Knuckles slammed into Dark Metal Shadow in mid-air. They were just about to drop into the water, both frazzled with electricity. Knowing what kind of shock this would create. Shadow quickly grabbed Sonic by the arm, and teleported the two of them well out of harm's way.

**FOOM!** Went the clones, fried to the core.

.

Sonic and Shadow reappeared near the heart of the factory, safe from electrocution, but now waist deep in water.

"Great," moaned Sonic. "What's next?"

He was about to regret saying that, when a small piece of the ceiling came crashing down on him. He jumped out of the way, but was surprised to see Tails Doll land on the floating debris. Apparently, it was using the ceiling as cover during its hunt for Tails.

"TaG! You'Re iT!"

It grabbed Sonic. **BZZZZT!**

Sonic howled as his body jolted and contorted while he was being fried by electricity. When suddenly, the doll let go of him, distracted by a familiar voice: "Hey! YOU!"

It looked up, and saw its true target- Tails- flying near an open ventilation shaft.

"I'm the one you want, remember?"

"TaiLs…!" The doll released a frizzed Sonic, not even bothering to watch him fall unconscious. "**L-l-l-let** the gaMes bE**Gin**!"

Shadow held onto a dazed Sonic, not letting him fall into the water's deep end, while Tails flew through the whole on the ceiling, straight toward…

.

…The rooftop.

While the sky was still blackened by toxic clouds, Tails found a hiding spot while his battered clone began a slow but steady search, using its diamond as a beacon.

"**R-r-r-r-r**_-_ready oR Not, Tails, HerE I co-oMe!"

As the Tails Doll was floating by, little Tails hunkered down behind a pipeline, his hands clutched onto a medium-sized pipe he had found somewhere on his escape from the creepy doll.

"Okay," he huffed softly to himself nervously. "It's just a doll. It's just a doll. That shoots lightning. And wants to kill me. I can do this, I can do this." He took a deep breath before lifting his head up above the pipe's level. That's where he met the doll face to face.

"GamE oVeR, TaIls!" cheered Tails Doll, as it reached out to grab its target while small sparks of electricity spouted through the gun barrel on its hand palm.

**CLANG! **

Tails looked like a pro as he swung the pipe across the doll's face, looking as though he knocked its block off. He gasped in relief as he jumped up to see his foe lying helpless on the floor… only to have his smile drop back down to a frown in dismay. Clearly, he did hit the robot in the face; however, the blow only seemed to daze it as it righted itself back up on its feet in no time. Its right eye dangled from its dislodged spring, while the gaping hole in the right side of its face exposed a sheet of dark blue metal just under the flap of orange polyester.

"**N-n-n-n-n-o** fAir. **Th-th-th-**that'S ch**Eat**Ing."

Tails swung the pipe again and again, until the doll swatted it out of his hands, forcing him to fly in retreat. The two of them circled the whole of the factory's rooftop almost three times before the doll changed tactics.

"I'm boReD," moaned the Tails Doll. Then suddenly, its mouth opened up to reveal sharp, twisted fangs while its one working eye's iris flashed from black to red. "LeT's play '**KILL!**'"

Its diamond out a red laser at Tails, singing his feet and causing him to yelp.

After several more misfires, Tails was starting to tire. But he wasn't about to give up; he noticed that he was coming up to a large pipeline that connected two towers. He piloted himself straight for the pipe, hoping that the doll was right behind him, and at the very last second he dove straight downward. He heard a loud "Clang!" as he landed, and breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Tails Doll crashed onto the iron floor, not far from Tails' feet. The victorious little fox pointed at it and declared, "That was for Rotor!"

To the fox's horror, the doll was not yet destroyed. Instead it slowly rose back onto its feet, even as most of its face was marred and its innards exposed. Weakly, it tried to reach out to Tails.

Its voice started to drop from a soprano's, to a tenor's, to a bass'. "…I just wann**a plaaaayyy**…"

"Playtime is over!" cried out a black-clad bat, as she suddenly came down on the doll with her body spiraling like a top. Her drill dive attack flattened the doll's mid-section, seemingly knocking all of the fight out of it. She then swept it with her white boot toward an open pipe, making it fall straight down into an abyss.

"Rouge!" exclaimed Tails with a big smile. "You came back!"

As the little fox gave her the biggest hug she ever had, she couldn't help but feel warm and fuzzy inside. "D'aww," giggled Rouge in her usual wile. "I'll take your hugs over a doll's any day, kiddo."

.

At long last, the majority of the team was out of the maze, thanks to Blaze's directions. This one confined room had red marking along the stone walls, and the water was flowing into a large manhole with small square openings. This allowed the team to walk safely with only a trickle of water at their heels.

Most of the heroes were on Ken's floating white cloud, particularly Amy and Rotor. Rotor's head was rested on Amy's lap, while she held out Sally's purple Sol Emerald and started to tap into its magic. Both she and Rotor were covered in a halo of purple light, until finally, he opened his eyes.

"Mmmm…. Wha…. Where am I?" he asked weakly.

"He's coming around," smiled Sally.

"Good," Amy smiled as well. "I thought for a second there…"

"Whe-…where's Tails?" asked Rotor softly.

"Right here, buddy!" came the voice of the little fox, as he and Rouge ran into the scene. Shadow phased into the scene ala Chaos Control shortly afterward, cradling an unconscious Sonic.

"Sonic!" gasped Amy.

"Don't worry, he's just dazed. He should be coming around soon…" Noticing his old friend, Shadow glanced at Rouge. "I thought you were headed back to our world."

She replied with a smirk, "What's the point if this is where all the fun is?"

Soon afterward, Knuckles came marching in with a broken-up Dark Metal Sonic. "Did somebody call for a busted robot with a side of…" His gloating stopped when he noticed his banged up buddy, dropping his victim. "Oh no! Is he…?"

"I'll help him," said Amy as she jumped off the cloud to Heal her fallen hero.

Then Tails realized that someone was missing. "Wait… Where's Fiona? Has anyone seen her?"

"Fiona?" blinked Bunnie. "I don't think we've seen her since the wall traps got started."

"Non," gulped Antoine. "She must still be lost."

"Oh, she's perfectly safe," echoed a feminine voice through the walls. "You, on the other hand, are far from it."

Jumping from an open pipe in the wall was Conquering Storm, the Raiju Bride, armed with a ninja star that was nearly as big as she was. Despite the star's size, she was able to hold it with just one paw. Standing by was her loyal servant, Lightning Lynx.

.

**-MINI-BOSS BATTLE: vs. Conquering St-**

_**Flash!**_

Just when Storm was gearing up for battle, a teal laser shot the giant ninja star clear out of her paw. "What?" she gasped in shock. "Who DARES interfere with my battle?"

"…I do…"

The manhole in the room's center opened up to reveal a platform slowly rising from its abyss. On that platform stood a tall white cat/lioness hybrid, with striking yellow eyes. She was dressed in a black rope with red stripes that covered her from neck to toe, and wore a bizarre-looking crown also black with red stripes. In her right paw was a long black scepter with a magnet-shaped top, and in its center was her secret weapon: the teal Sol Emerald that once belonged to Marine the Raccoon.

"The Iron Queen," guessed Knuckles in a whisper. He guessed correctly.

One particular hero- Blaze the Cat- was perhaps more shocked and horrified than any of her allies, as she stared in disbelief at the queen's familiar face. "…mother…!"

"Majesty!" gasped Conquering Storm; she and Lightning were quick to kneel before their master. "We are your humble servants, as always."

"Don't patronize me, you little brat!" hissed the queen. "I've watched you play your dirty little tricks today."

"You… were here the whole time?" gulped Storm.

"Of course I was, you fool! I OWN this dominion! I gave you a chance to best these heroes, and you have clearly failed!"

Panicked, Storm pointed to her faithful sidekick Lightning. "It was him! He botched things up when he flooded the maze!"

"Me? It was _your_ idea!" Lightning snarled back at her.

"SILENCE!" cried out the white feline. Her roar sent chills down everyone's spine, even Shadow's. "You have BOTH failed me, and since I no longer have any use for you anyway, I hereby banish you to the sewers! Begone with you!"

A trap door flew open beneath Conquering Storm and Lightning. As they fell into the black pit, all that was left were their pitiful screams echoing through the walls.

"And now," purred the Iron Queen as her yellow eyes gazed upon the pink hedgehog in the group; "to rid myself of this last Healer. Hahahahaha!" She aimed her staff at Amy, who couldn't move lest she stopped healing Sonic.

"No, you don't!" cried out a female voice; a flash of black and red blurred by most of the team, as the queen fired her magic.

**zzzzzzzZZZZAP!**

The hero team gasped in horror, Tails more so: "Fiona?... FIONA!"

.

**LOADING BOSS BATTLE…**


	41. BOSS BATTLE: vs The Iron Queen

**.**

**41. "Identity Crisis"**

.

The team was still shocked in seeing the Iron Queen for the first time, but now she has zapped one of their own, Fiona Fox, with her power of the teal Sol Emerald.

"Fiona!" cried out Tails in vain. He watched helplessly, as Fiona's body shifted from flesh and fur to stone. She was frozen in place like a statue, a fate identical to Marine's.

"Foolish child," frowned Blaze's mother. "I gave her a chance to redeem herself, but she refused! Now she must wait in stone hibernation before I decide to forgive her."

Tails rushed over to where Fiona's frozen body stood, and could see that her face was still fearful of the queen, despite her act of bravery. He then turned to face the Iron Queen with newfound anger. "You… You'll pay for this!"

He tried to charge at her, when she stopped him in his tracks by zapping the ground before him. "Stay where you are, nave!" she roared.

"Mother!" screamed out a horrified Blaze, "Have you lost your mind?"

The Iron Queen gazed at the purple cat coldly. "Who are you calling 'Mother?' I am your Queen! Bow before me, all of you!"

The pyro kinetic feline bravely stepped forward. "Don't you remember me? I'm Blaze, and you're Hathor, queen of Felidae!"

"Nonsense," hissed the white cat dressed in black and red. "I am of the Dragon Kingdom! Granted, it's been taken over, but soon I will reclaim it, starting with the floating city of Avian!"

Sonic's eyes fluttered open, having been fully healed by Amy. He was standing by the pink she-hog's side when he noticed the teal jewel on Hathor's scepter. "That's…"

"Marine's Sol Emerald," nodded Amy. She then noticed her hero moving toward the enemy; "Sonic, don't! You're still healing."

Both he and Blaze dared to confront the spellbound queen, both ready for combat- though Blaze was more interested in reasoning with her. "Mother, please. This isn't you; you're under some kind of spell! Let me help you."

"I told you to BOW, you insolent…" The queen raised her staff in fury, when suddenly she paused. Her vision hazed as a sharp pain split her brain, as though something had struck her from out of the blue. As she gasped for air, her vision was still slightly blurred as she tried to focus on Sonic and Blaze.

In truth, her memories were being overrun by those given to her through Finitevus' experiment; he made it so that her mind was given false memories, ones based on the life of the true Iron Queen from many generations passed. As she looked again at the figures of Sonic and Blaze, two new figures began to take their place. Instead of Sonic, she saw a silvery-grey hedgehog with yellow eyes, a tuft of white fur on his chest, long shards of quill-bangs and black/yellow/blue gloves and boots. In Blaze's place, she saw an all-black cat, with a white toga underneath a purple sash, and dotted with golden Ankth-shaped jewelry, from her earrings to her neck, to her sandals.

"No….. it can't… be…." she staggered, stunned by her surprise.

Sonic and Blaze were puzzled; "Mother," peeped a worried Blaze. "Are you… alright?"

Still seeing her past foes, the Iron Queen filled with rage and screamed, "You… You again! How many times must I fight you?"

"Mother?"

"I will NOT let you take my kingdom from me, not NOW, not EVER AGAIN!"

.

**- BOSS BATTLE: vs. IRON QUEEN -**

**Boss Song: "Scrambled Eggman" from _"Project Chaos"_**

**Artists: "BrainCells" and "SnappleMan"**

With a wave of her staff, the ground shifted so that pillars blocked off all of the queen's enemies, except for two: Sonic and Blaze. The queen waved her arm again, magically switching on the open pipes along the walls so that water came in like torrents, flooding the room up while her pedestal began to rise higher and higher, far out of reach from her foes.

But Blaze and Sonic could still reach her, by allowing the water to engulf them completely so that they could start double-jumping through the water, their only means of swimming. There were air bubbles to be had, but for now they had time to start hopping upward, toward the queen's surface. Her magic, however, started to cause a whirlpool that sent Sonic and Blaze tossing and turning helplessly; they were starting to tire and lose air.

**5… 4… 3… 2… "Gasp!"**

Sonic caught an air bubble just in time as it floated by; now he had the momentum needed to reach the surface. As he took the lead, he and Blaze jumped out of the water and onto the Iron Queen's platform.

"Bow to me!" she roared, hurling bolts of teal energy from her staff. Sonic had to run circles around the queen before he can take a shot. He aimed for her head and gave her two quick homing-attack hits. She then knocked him back, making him lose a few Rings.

Blaze was tagged in to repeat the process; as she ran in circles, she observed, "She's using the Sol Emerald to control the water."

The queen shot small balls of teal energy toward Blaze, who had to slide to dodge the low attacks and jump or double-jump to avoid the high ones. Finally, once the queen was left wide open, she spun into her.

The queen roared in frustration, and conjured up two watery hands from the flood. They grabbed onto Blaze and Sonic, and dragged them back to the bottom of the pool.

In their second underwater round, small spikes started to stick out from the pedestal. This kept them from getting near their target, but once the whirlpool started up again, they were being pulled toward the spikes. Blaze was hit, and managed to hold onto one last Ring. She tried to jump-swim away from the spikes as the whirlpool continued, but she at least managed to get an air bubble, gasping in its oxygen.

Sonic was tagged in, and proved to be the faster jump-swimmer. He managed to push himself toward the surface just as the whirlpool died down. He now had to face the queen in person, running around in circles while she shot teal lasers from her staff.

"You will pay for your insolence!" she yelled.

Sonic was a pro at dodging her attacks, and managed to get in three hits to her head before he and Blaze were once again dragged underwater by the magic wave-hands.

On their third round, Blaze and Sonic could now see that it wasn't actually the queen, but her spinning pedestal, that was causing the whirlpools. The proof was in the movement of the pedestal's growing spikes. Blaze tagged herself into play and shot a heat ball at one of the spikes. This caused it to break, and it slowed down the pedestal's spin. Blaze went for another spike to break, when…

**5… 4… 3… 2…**

She had to get an air bubble, and fast! Fortunately, one was headed her way.

**1… "Gasp!"**

Just in time, too.

Blaze continued to shoot heat balls at a second spike, until it smashed into pieces. The pedestal started to spin again, but slower this time. Blaze had to focus on where her next heat attack would go; finally, one spike stood out above the rest. She tagged in Sonic to chase after it.

**5… 4… 3- "Gasp!"**

Sonic reached the spike, and tagged in Blaze. Her heat ball shattered the spike, and the pedestal stopped spinning. Now that the whirlpools were done, she and Sonic could easily jump-swim to the surface.

Once they reached the surface, the Iron Queen was starting to get really angry: "I am your Queen! Kneel, I say!"

Her laser attacks were now much thicker in bulk, making Blaze think twice before running forward. One thing was going for her: the queen's fury had blinded her, making her shoot in all directions without focus. Blaze tagged in Sonic, and he only needed to wait for an opening before using his homing attack three more times.

Hit, hit, hit.

"No… This cannot be…!" moaned the queen in agony; she started to hold her head while dizzied by the last attacks. Sonic had to make one final spin attack, and she was down for the count.

.

**- MISSION: COMPLETE! -**

"Yes! We did it!" exclaimed Sonic as he high-fived his tag partner.

"I knew we could beat her," smiled Blaze.

…

With the queen defeated, her power over the environment shrank until the water and the platforms were no more. The Freedom Fighters stood by curiously, as Sonic and Blaze walked up to the stunned white cat as she laid on her back.

"…Mother?"

"…Queen Hathor?"

She looked up at them with fluttering eyes. She didn't see their faces, but the faces of the silver hedgehog and black cat.

"….why….? ….why must you keep haunting me?"

"Mother it's _me_, it's Blaze!"

For a moment, in her weakness, the queen looked as though she were at peace… but then her eyes narrowed coldly again. "I'm not yet beaten… You haven't won this war!"

The queen jumped back onto her feet and raised her staff high. "I still have allies in Avian; I'll meet you there, where we will end this charade once and for all! HA-hahahahahaha!"

"Mother, no!" gasped Blaze, but it was too late; the queen had conjured up a protective orb around herself, courtesy of the teal Sol Emerald. Like a comet, she flew out of the arena, through the maze and picking up the remaining pieces of the Dark Doppel Gang, and shot through a wall of the old factory. From there, she was like a reverse meteor, shooting straight upward into the sky, until she was nowhere to be seen.

Blaze stood in place, both stunned and heartbroken. Sonic touched her shoulder and said, "Come on, let's get out of here."

Though reluctant, Blaze gave him a nod. The team had to leave, as there was no one left to fight.

.

Deep in the dark, dank sewers, Conquering Storm and Lightning Lynx remained in exile. All that could be seen, if anything, were their eyes.

"This is all your fault, Lightning," hissed the voice of Storm.

"Explain to me again why it's _my_ fault?"

"You should have finished off those rebels when you had the chance! Now we're stuck down here!"

"Oh, relax; I'm sure there's a way out."

"Yes, well, by the time we _do_ get out I'll be an old Bride."

"…Well, at least you still got me."

**Fff-fff-ff-ff-plaaaaayyy?**

"…What was that?"

"Wasn't me."

**Fff-fff-ff-fflaaaay wiiiiiifff—meeeeee…**

A pair of small red eyes and a red diamond flashed; it was Tails Doll- what was left of it. And it was standing right behind the lynxes.

"_**CaN-fff-You fffffEel tHe ffffuN-fffffIne…?"**_

What else could they do, but scream?

"…AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

.

**To Be Continued…**


	42. Turning Points

**.**

**42. "Turning Points"**

.

Now that the worst was behind them, it was time for the heroes to find where Marine the Raccoon was being kept prisoner. Since there were no other islands left to conquer, the team relied on the extra help of the Shinobi chameleons to search the last nooks and crannies of Iron Dome Zone. It took them several hours, but at last they reached a secret passageway toward the massive boiler room of the factory.

Trailing the team were Tails and Rotor, the latter carrying the lifeless body of Fiona Fox. Amy hadn't yet Healed her, on account that she wanted to be sure that she could Heal Marine as well.

With the chameleons leading the way, the Freedom Fighters took their time to stare at the old, rusty furnaces and tubes popping out of the walls like veins on an elder's hand. But then they heard the clan captain call out, "Here, come look at this!"

The team rushed toward Valdez; he pointed at a small slit in a wall. "It's a trap wall," he observed. Together with his fellow chameleons, he pushed the slide door open, revealing not one but seven statues of former Mobians. One of them, of course, was-

"Marine!" exclaimed Blaze, happy to see that they had found her petrified little friend. She was just as they had expected her to be: ready to flee in terror, but unable to move.

But Sally was quick to recognize the other statues. "No…! Antoine, look! It's…"

Antoine also recognized the six squirrel statues. "Oui, mon princess," he nodded. "They are our palace guards, missing all zis time. But zat one on the end, is that?"

"It is," said Sally in a deep breath. She ran to the last of the squirrel statues, almost hesitant to embrace him while he was still frozen stiff. "It's Elias… my brother."

"Your brother?" gasped Sonic in surprise.

"Yes," sighed Sally, holding back tears. "He was one of the first to respond to Robotnik's threats. He took our best warriors with him, but they never came back. We all thought… we thought he was…" Sally cupped her face in her paws while Antoine patted her back in comfort.

Amy stepped up with a hopeful smile. "Don't worry, Sally, I'm sure I can Heal them all in one shot."

Blaze took her side. "You may need to use all three Sol Emeralds for this, Amy. I'll help you out."

Blaze summoned up the purple, blue and yellow Sol Emeralds that were hidden away, and both she and Amy held them out with clasped hands. "In the name of balance and nature… I wish for all of you to be **Released**!"

In a bright white flash, which caused everybody to cover their faces, the magic seemed to work. When they looked again, they could see that there was color in the statues now, and they were all moving, rubbing their eyes.

"Wha… Where are we?" moaned Elias weakly.

"Ugh," moaned Fiona while cradled in Rotor's arms. "What happened? Did I just pass out?"

Then one other spoke up: "Blimey! I must've dozed off- wot time is it? Oy, Blaze mate! Where've _you_ been? An' who're these here land-lubbers? Are they friends? Is this an adventure? Are we under attack? Ripper! It's about time you blokes showed up, 'cause I was about to-" _Peep!_

Blaze held the little raccoon's mouth shut with her pointer finger. "It's good to have you back, Marine."

Meanwhile, a brother and sister were enjoying their family reunion; "Aw Elias, I'm so glad you're alright! I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, Sally… But, what happened?"

"It's kind of a long story, but we can tell you all about it once we get out of this place."

The team made an almost quiet exit; Marine was starting to ramble again, though her motor-mouth was mostly ignored.

.

A celebration of freedom was underway, set on the main coast of the island which Marine called home. Though the spider ninjas were invited, only a few showed up out of courtesy, while the rest of the party goers were made up of the local marsupials. There were big meals to be had, dances to dance and stories to recount- all of the Freedom Fighters were obliged to take part… except for one.

Blaze the Cat sat on the beach alone, just as she had requested earlier. She needed time to recount her battle against her mother, and to accept the fact that she was going to need more than muscle to restore her. All was quiet, except for a pair of footsteps in the sand.

Without even looking his way, Blaze frowned, "I thought you were out partying with the others."

"I was going to," replied Sonic with a shrug, "but it just didn't feel right. I mean yeah, we saved the islands, but… it wasn't a complete victory."

"I just need a little more time, Sonic."

"I understand, but I just wanted you to know that you're not alone in this. I'm here for ya, Blaze."

"I know… and… I appreciate it. Thank you."

"No problem." He paused to stick around for a minute longer before rejoining the others.

.

"Chaos… CONTROL!"

With the power of their three Chaos Emeralds, Knuckles and Shadow unlocked a swirling vortex on another part of the beach. With them were Valdez and the Shinobi chameleons.

"There you go, guys," smiled Knuckles. "This should take you back to our world- though you might just end up on Angel Island for starters."

Valdez bowed in thanks. "We appreciate all that you've done for us; we will tell our Bride of Constant Vigil about your bravery and selflessness… But I must ask: are you sure you don't want to come along with us?"

"I've still got a few things to take care of here," Knuckles replied.

"Then," nodded Valdez, "we will see you when your task here is done… Oh, and we'll be sure to tell Espio that you said hi."

"…Espio?"

Without an explanation, Valdez joined his chameleon brethren through the portal before it closed up, leaving both Knuckles and Shadow a bit perplexed.

Knuckles figured it out on his own and grinned. "Well, I'll be…"

.

After eating a banquet fit for a king, Prince Elias and his soldiers were already starting to pack up their rations for the long trip back to Acorn Kingdom. Sally, accompanied by Bunnie and Antoine, looked on with sad eyes.

"You're leaving so soon, Elias?"

"I have to; someone's got to keep the kingdom safe in case Robotnik plans another attack on it. Besides, I'm sure mom and dad missed me like crazy… You sure you don't want to come home with me, sis?" he asked hopefully.

Sally shook her head. "I can't, not just yet." She wouldn't give her reasons, mostly because they involved banishment.

"Then I'll put in a good word for you with mom and dad."

"Heh, thanks… Seems weird though, I just found you and now we have to say goodbye again."

"Don't worry. I'll try not to get captured this time." He gave his little sister a big hug, which was returned tenfold.

Bunnie had to wipe a tear from her eye, then realized she wiped her tear with her metal finger. "Aw dernit," she muttered, fearing it might rust.

.

Not far from where the Acorn siblings were, Tails was talking to Rotor about their recent near-fatal incident. Rotor himself looked well as he was chowing down on shrimp, courtesy of local chef Barby Koala.

"Honestly, Tails, I feel better than ever. Amy's magic really did the trick."

"Well, I just wanna make sure, 'cause I don't wanna lose you or anybody else on this trip."

"If it makes you feel any better, buddy, I'll focus more on our vehicles from here on out. But I'd still take a collapsing wall for ya…. More shrimp please, Barby?"

"Comin' right up luv," smiled the white koala nearby.

Tails gave Rotor a half smile, still unsure of what dangers he and the others may encounter next.

.

Blaze wasn't the only one seeking solitude that evening. Fiona Fox made a quick exit out of town, but was carefully being followed by another lost soul. While standing at the edge of the jungle, the vixen heard footsteps. Suspecting a foe, she turned quickly with a karate stance.

"Easy, I come in peace!" smiled Rouge the Bat coyly.

Fiona calmed down; "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"

"I noticed you sneaking off back there. Where're you headed, back to your spider lair?"

"My business with the Gossamer Clan is finished; I'm a free agent now."

Rouge practically squealed with delight. "Oh, goodie! That was just what I was hoping you'd say."

"Why is that?" asked the suspicious vixen.

"Well, between you n' me, hon, I never did get along with those boy scouts back there. Sure I have my good side, but I'm not exactly what you'd call a team player. Know what I mean?"

Fiona sighed, "I still feel pretty weird about being back on the team. I feel like there's too much history between us."

"Which is precisely why I think we should team up, just you and me."

"Really? You want to go on some kind of adventure with me? …What's the catch?"

"No catch. Just hear me out: We all want those Sol Emeralds, and we all want to keep them away from Anti-Eggman, or whatever he's called."

"Robotnik?"

"Yeah, yeah. That's it. Robot-Nick. Anyway, I propose we snatch away whichever Sol Emeralds he has, while not actually giving them back to Sonic and his friends."

"You mean steal for keeps."

"Why not? It'll be fun, don't you think? Plus, it'll be kind of nice having a gal pal for once. Of course, if you don't want to, I'll understand."

At first, Fiona was unsure and kept quiet. This caused Rouge to guess that she had chosen the straight and narrow path. "Suit yourself kid," she shrugged as she started to walk off.

"Wait."

The she-bat turned slightly. "Hmmm?"

"…Let's say we steal the emeralds, then sell them for the highest price. Then we can buy whatever we want and live like queens."

The bat's eyes twinkled with joy. "Now you're speaking my language. Name's Rouge."

"Fiona." She reached out to shake Rouge's hand, which was accepted.

"Fiona? This could be the start of a beautiful friendship."

.

After a good night's rest, the team had begun to board the newly repaired airship. One of the last ones to board was Blaze, as she found herself anchored by a pesky little raccoon pulling on her tail.

"PLEASE let me come, Blaze ol' mate! I promise I'll be good and stay near the ship and make brownies and not let myself get captured or turned into a robot or anything like that, just _pleeeeeease _don't leave me behind!"

Blaze gave a deep sigh and patted Marine's head. "I'm sorry, Marine, but I've already lost you once. And somebody's got to keep an eye on these islands while I'm gone, and you're perfect for the job."

"I'm not a little Sheila anymore, ya know. I can fight my own battles."

"And you'll have to fight them here. Goodbye, Marine."

"But…" As she watched Blaze board the ship without hesitation, she could tell that her decision was final. Marine crossed her arms and moped, but only for a brief moment. She waited until Blaze was on board before she started to slink toward the ship's back end.

.

Hours trickled by as the airship made a slow and steady sail across oceans of white clouds, en route to the far north-east. Hiding behind any one of those clouds would be Avian, the legendary city in the sky. Knuckles was particularly curious about this land, because the more he heard tales of it from Blaze, the more he felt like it was a home away from home. This was a parallel reality; perhaps Avian was the Angel Island of this world.

But after nearly a day of smooth sailing, Blaze was no longer in a spirited mood. Her thoughts were focused on her mother, whom she was sure was waiting to do battle with them again. The more she thought about it, the unhappier she became. Her silence was starting to worry everyone, especially Sonic.

He watched as the purple Persian slinked away to the lower level of the ship with her head bowed down, and turned to his friend Tails. "She's been like that for a while now," he whispered.

"She's probably thinking about her mom," Tails whispered back with a frown.

"You should've seen it, bud. When she looked at me and Blaze, it was like she was seeing two other people. It was so weird."

"You think we can get her back to normal?"

"I hope so… if only for Blaze's sake."

.

Blaze made her way into a small room, careful to make sure she was alone with the three Sol Emeralds her team had collected. She didn't notice the fact that a little tan raccoon was hiding nearby- a stowaway named Marine. Instead, she placed the emeralds on a wooden table and sat down to speak to them privately.

"Sol Emeralds," she began to pray. "Guardians of balance, enforcers of nature, hear my plea: I need your guidance. I need you to give me a sign, a clue, as to how I can save Queen Hathor of Felidae and restore her mind. I know you can hear me, and that you have the power. Please… I beg you… Just give me one sign… Please." Her voice died into a whisper as she started to shed tears.

Marine felt for her friend as she shed a small tear herself.

The emeralds began to gravitate all of the tears toward them, absorbing them the moment they touched the gems. As if a button had been switched on, the gems began to glow in warm shades of red, yellow and blue, and soon the lights merged into one mystic orange glow.

"_I speak from the past to the future,"_ came a mysterious female voice. It sounded almost like Hathor's.

"Mother?" peeped Blaze as she stared in awe at the glowing gems.

"_I speak from the past to the future,"_ the voice grew stronger. _"I speak for Sol and Time. What affects my world affects yours, and what affects your world affects mine."_

Marine came out from behind the staircase behind which she hid, drawn to the light. "Blimey, what is that?"

Blaze jerked her head around. "…Marine? What are you..?"

Suddenly, the emeralds started to levitate and spin in a circle, faster and faster, until they created a small vortex through space and time themselves.

"What is this? A Special Stage?" inquired Blaze. She dared to try and reach out to it, when it started to drag her in.

Both Blaze and Marine started to panic as both girls started to feel themselves being pulled toward the spinning vortex. But it was no use, the force was too great and only getting stronger. Before they could blink, they were both vacuumed up and swallowed whole, and then in a flash, the hole in the air disappeared. All that remained were the Sol Emeralds, now normal again.

This was the start of a whole new adventure…

.

**CHOOSE YOUR NEXT PATH:**

**Blaze the Cat- "The Iron Wars" (Coming Soon)**

**or**

**Sonic the Hedgehog- Avian Kingdom (Next Chapter)**

**.**

**LOADING ZONE…**


	43. ZERO GRAVITY ZONE: Ark Angels

**.**

**YOU HAVE SELECTED:**

**Sonic the Hedgehog**

**(Continuing From Chapter 42)**

**.**

**LOADING…**

**.**

**43 A. "What the Duck?"**

.

Somewhere in the northern sky, surrounded by walls of puffy white clouds, stood a small but magical island with some green vegetation, but mostly covered in Greek-styled acropolises. This was Avian, main home of the world's bird races, topped with a massively tall tower in its center. While the heroes were still on their way, the villains beat them to the punch.

Heralded in on a winged steampunk chariot pulled by two cyborg lizards with dragonic steel wings, Iron Queen Hathor made her grand entrance. Her chariot carried her straight to the top of Babylon Tower, where her brainwashed subjects were waiting.

In the tower was an army split into two factions- one was a group of cyborg birds and "dragons," controlled by a microchip implanted in the metal part of their heads; the other was a group of Dark Legionnaires, led by none other than Dr. Finitevus.

As she exited her chariot, the albino echidna bowed before her. "Welcome home, your majesty. We've been expecting you."

The queen looked at Finitevus and smiled unexpectedly. "Ah, Doctor Zachary! How nice to see you again after all this time."

While his fellow Legionnaires looked confused, Finitevus smiled back. "Well! Eh-heh. It's good to see that her majesty made the trek safely."

The brainwashed Hathor then eyed up the cyborg birds and lizards. "Are these our new subjects?"

"Indeed," grinned Finitevus. "Shortly after our embarrassing defeat in Canus, we Legionnaires came straight to Avi- I mean Babylon- to reclaim our settlement here. It wasn't easy at first, but after a few scuffles you'll find the locals to be, um, shall we say more cooperative?"

"Excellent. It's just like old times when we've Cyberized our conquered enemies… And, what of the Grand Sol Emerald? I trust it is still within the heart of the tower?"

For once, Finitevus looked rather worried, as he realized he wasn't quite as prepared as he had thought. "…um…"

Her gaze turned hostile. "Zachary? We_ do_ still have the Grand Emerald, do we not?"

"Uh- Oh, oh yes! Yes, we do, your grace… It's just, um… Not as 'Grand' as it used to be."

"Explain."

"All in due time, your grace. But first, we must prepare for battle! Our friends from Aquatica are on their way as we speak."

"Fine," she sighed as she marched up to her golden throne. "Send out the troops, and I'll check on the Grand Emerald myself."

"As you wish," he softly replied. The albino then gestured to his Legionnaires and Cyberniks to follow him out of the throne room.

"Sir?" whispered one of the clocked Legionnaires to Finitevus. "Why did she call you Zachery?"

He whispered back, "I'll explain later, if I have the time."

.

Some hours later, the airship carrying Sonic and company was making its way toward the mysterious floating island. Knuckles, Sally and Bunnie were the first to see its marble highways circling the ancient metropolis like a halo.

"It's just as beautiful as I imagined it," sighed Sally happily.

Knuckles beamed, "It's just like my island, except mine's mostly jungle… How did this place come to be?"

"There's a story behind that," replied Bunnie. "Long time ago, this city was down on the ground. Then after the great Iron War it became a safe haven for the creatures that used to be under the Iron Queen's control. As far as we know, they're living their lives freely now."

"There was something else hiding on the island," added Sally, "but I can't remember what it was…"

"The question is," worried Knuckles, "does Robotnik know about this place?"

Sally shook her head. "Even if he does, he hasn't tried to make his move on Avian. We can only hope it stays that way."

Meanwhile, one crew member had become aware that the band of heroes was now short of one- make that two- members. Flashes of blue went zipping by to and fro on the ship's deck, startling any who happened to see it. The blue turned out to be Sonic on a frantic search. Finally winded, he stopped at the ship's front with Rotor at the wheel.

"Has anybody seen Blaze?" wondered the blue hedgehog. "I've been all over this ship like twenty times already."

"In just two seconds?" pondered the walrus.

"Exactly! And you know what I found? Nothing; not one sign of her. She couldn't have just vanished, could she?"

"Well, maybe she decided to go off on her own. You know how she likes to work solo."

"But she could have at least given us a warning… I dunno, Rotor, something's just not right here. I'm starting to worry."

"Worried about what?" asked Amy as she tiptoed into view.

"Blaze," explained Sonic patiently. "Have you seen where she's gone?"

"No, why?"

"She just ups and leaves without even saying goodbye?" He bowed his shaking head. "I was just starting to think she was getting used to being part of a team. Why would she do this?"

Seeing her hero stare aimlessly at the sky like a lost puppy, Amy frowned. "Hey, you said you didn't like her in that way."

Her jealousy was something he should have expected, but in any case, he balled his fists in frustration. "Amy, _not now_, okay?"

As he stormed off, Amy felt taken aback. She turned to Rotor for console; "Gosh, I really didn't mean to get him upset."

"Um," replied a nervous Rotor, "I think we've got a bigger problem right now. You see that little cannonball in the air?"

"Yeah?"

"It's headed right for us."

"Oh… AUUUGH!"

Rotor and Amy ducked just as the small cannonball flew over their heads.

The rest of the ship's crew paused as the little black ball bounced like a basketball and then rolled to a stop in the center of the deck. At first, all was quiet… but then, Julie-Su noticed the small fire alit on the black ball's top.

"It's a BOMB!" she screamed.

Everyone jumped for cover as the bomb went off with only a small **"Boomf!"** Its explosion did nothing more than singe the small radius surrounding its landing. In truth, the weapon was more like a firecracker than a true bomb.

Just when the crew lifted their heads to assess the damage, a few more small bombs came flying over and onto the ship. Like the first one, their explosions were less than lethal; however, it was apparent that their lack of damage was made up for in their growing numbers.

Tails knew this pattern all too well as he gazed upward at the bombs. "No… It couldn't be…!" He fluttered up to the crow's nest to look through a telescope at whoever it was responsible for this bizarre attack. "…It is! Sonic! Look up ahead!"

Tails dropped the telescope for his hedgehog friend to catch. He raced to the front of the ship and looked straight ahead through it, with Shadow the Hedgehog not far behind him.

"Oh, I don't believe it," muttered the blue hero.

Across a plain of small clouds and fractured floating pedestals was an open marble highway, the current sanctuary of a small green duckling wearing a red bandana around his neck, and a giant polar bear with a backward baseball cap and green scarf. The duck snapped his fingers, making bombs magically appear in his hands, then he tossed them upward for his polar bear companion to whack with his baseball bat. They were aiming the bombs straight at the airship.

Shadow didn't need a telescope to tell him who they were: "Well, well. Bean the Dynamite, and Bark the Polar Bear."

Curiously, Sonic asked him, "You know those two wackos?"

"They're on G.U.N.'s Most Wanted List. Their rap sheet includes grand theft, arson, and multiple counts of disturbing the peace."

"I know them too, sort of. Me n' my buddies gave them a chance to help us take down Eggman, but as soon as they found out about the Chaos Emeralds, they turned rogue… But what the heck are they doing here? And how did they even get here?"

"Why don't we head on over there and ask them?"

Sonic couldn't believe his ears. "You mean…_ you_ wanna team up with _me_?"

Shadow turned his head with a scoff. "Don't look at this as a team-up; you're just a means to an end."

Sonic curled a smile. "Alright, fine. But I'm calling you 'buddy' the whole way."

Shadow cringed.

…

**- ZERO GRAVITY ZONE-**

**.**

**Selected Team: ARK Angels (Sonic and Shadow)**

.

Though they were a mile away from the platform where Bean and Bark stood, Sonic and Shadow jumped down from the ship and onto a long stretch of stone highway that was broken off from the mainland's halo. Other debris were floating in the air, all which would have dropped to earth had it not been for the zone's massive set of fans pushing air upward. The fans could have also kept the hedgehogs afloat for a little while, but they needed to move from broken street to broken street in order to reach their goal.

"We can stay in the air by using the updrafts," said Shadow wisely as he skated ahead. His first platform was a very short one, just a concrete runway with a line of Rings that he used to activate a boost to force himself forward through the air.

**Ring Count: 10**

By using his own style of Homing Attack, he bounced off a small series of floating boulders, which made for perfect stepping stones to the next broken street. That's when he tagged in Sonic.

"Try to keep up," teased the blue hedgehog as he ran along the twisty street, reminiscent of Speed Highway.

**Ring Count: 22**

Sonic used his Boost, followed by Homing Attack, to jump into the air as the street collapsed under his feet. He landed safely on a floating pedestal, with a Ten-Ring box sitting on its top.

**Ring Count: 32**

A flurry of bombs started coming his way from up ahead; it was time to abandon the pedestal and make a leap of faith downward. As he freefell, he directed himself away from the bombs that tried to cross his path. He could have landed on any one of the boulders nearby, but they were also sitting targets for the bombs.

Sonic landed safely on another floating platform, and lucky for him it came with a ramp that would help him boost straight upward. But he failed to use Homing Attack in time, missing a landing spot. He was lucky to be within an updraft, which kept him afloat for a little while. He waited for the boulder to come back around before homing his attack on it. One, two, three boulder hits later, he landed on another patch of floating highway.

"Out of my way," hissed Shadow as he led the charge. He skated on the looping patch of highway, bagging himself more Rings to boost himself forward like a rocket.

**Ring Count: 45**

But as the black hedgehog kept his eyes on the highway, he didn't notice another barrage of falling bombs. As they hit nearby boulders, the debris crashed into him. He lost both a set of Rings, and his Boost.

**Ring Count: 0-7**

Sonic caught seven Rings before they disappeared completely, but now Shadow was peeved. He had to free-fall downward, following in Sonic's footsteps, to fall into two horizontal rows of Rings.

**Ring Count: 14, 21**

When he landed on a floating rock, Shadow could see a huge updraft that could have easily pushed him back on the right track. He skated forward, dodging debris that shot at him from bomb explosions, before taking the leap of faith. He was jetted upward so quickly that he couldn't have seen where he was going. But thankfully, he landed safely on a pedestal that housed a Ten-Ring Box.

**Ring Count: 31**

Shadow could now see his adversaries in the near distance, but before he could reach them he had to follow a delicate path of floating, spinning boulders. Using Boost, he shot himself forward and used Homing Attack on one, two, tree, four, five, six boulders in a row flawlessly.

"Not bad!" cheered Sonic behind him.

"Too easy," smirked Shadow.

But just when he thought he was safe on the highway, Shadow was jetted upward by another furious gust of wind. He found himself floating just above Bark and Bean, who saw him coming.

"Batter up!" cheered Bean as he tossed up a bomb for Bark to bat.

Bark started to swat bombs upward toward Shadow; the hedgehog had to dodge the bombs quickly, or- BOOM!

**Ring Count: 0**

Too late; he got hit. "Augh!" he roared in both pain and frustration.

When Shadow landed, Bark picked up Bean and started to retreat on Halo Highway, using what appeared to be a stolen hover board of some kind.

"Allow me," smiled Sonic as he was tagged into play.

Though he was without his Boost, Sonic was still fleet-footed enough to snag three rows of Rings as he chased after the duck and polar bear.

**Ring Count: 8, 16, 24**

With this amount of Rings handy, Sonic Boosted like it was nobody's business, and when he caught up to the pair of hoodlums, he made three Homing Attack hits on them.

"Pick up the pace, Bark!" ordered the small green duckling.

Bark's hover board gained speed, making Sonic spin-dash to collect more Rings for his Boost.

**Ring Count: 35**

But now, Bean was furiously throwing bombs Sonic's way; he had to be careful with which direction he was going in; this was starting to look almost exactly like the bomb evasion runway of Special Stages in the past.

"Move aside, amateur!" Shadow pushed himself forward, sliding to the far left and far right with ease, and taking advantage of small ramps whenever he could, if only just to avoid getting hit by a random bomb.

**Ring Count: 48… 56… 73**

Though he could have used Chaos Spear at this point, he wisely chose not to; it would have triggered the bombs and he would have run straight into their force of impact. So instead, he used Boost to catch up to his adversaries. When he did, all it took was three more Homing Attacks, and they were down for the count.

.

**-ACT CLEARED!-**

**Ring Count: 73**

**Power Points: 1000**

**Ranking: A (Excellent!)**

"We get an A for effort!"

"Very funny, Faker."

.

Amy and Sally had followed the hedgehogs while holding ropes from the airship; once Bean and Bark were subdued, the girls had their hands and torsos tied and set them sitting down, back to back.

"Heehee-heeheeheehee!" laughed the hysterical duckling while their enemies looked on in wonder. "You guys," sputtered Bean, "you always were a bunch of sore sports. Can'tcha take a little joke?"

"You think this is all a joke?" growled Shadow as he crossed his arms. "As soon as we're done business around here, I'm dragging the two of you back to jail in our world, where you belong."

"Aww, come on Mister Red-lock-puffy-chest! We's innocent, we tells ya! Innocent! Right, Bark?"

The mute polar bear remained silent.

"He pleads the fifth," smiled Bean.

Sally glanced to Amy with narrowed eyes. "Is he really this crazy?"

Amy glanced back, "You don't know the half of it."

The blue hedgehog tapped his foot. "How long have you two birdbrains been in this world?"

"Ever since we've been chasin' after the fly-by-shine-get guys!"

"The who?" Sonic exclaimed.

"All we wanted was the shiny green rock! But no, those smug, hater sky-skaters made off with it. Tell 'em Bark! ….Boy you really are good at that fifth pledge, aren'tcha?"

Shadow stomped up to Bean till they were face to face, then by picking up the little quackster by the scarf, they were eye to eye. "Are you telling us you're in cahoots with somebody on this island?"

"What's a ca-hoot?" blinked the crazed duckling. "Is that like a cat/owl hybrid? I want one!"

_**SHING! **_Their attentions were all cut short by the sudden appearance of a Special Stage Warp Ring.

Bean's eyes were dazzled. "Oooo! On second thought, I'll take the big shiny wormhole!"

"Shadow," shrugged Sonic, "we can deal with these weirdoes later; right now we gotta get to that next emerald before the Warp Ring disappears."

Shadow gave Bean one last merciless glare before dropping him back onto the floor. Then he said to Sally and Amy, "Keep these two close; I want to have some more words with them when I get back."

"Hey! _I_ don't want words, I want the shiny! I want it! I WANT IT!" whined the crazy juvenile duck.

Amy was quick to silence him momentarily with a soft but effective bonk to the head with her hammer. Sally looked at her as though surprised; Amy smiled coyly, "It was a Piko-tap. Honest."

While the rabbit and coyote dragged the polar bear and duck away, the two hedgehogs jumped into the portal, and were gone in a flash.

.

**LOADING SPECIAL STAGE…**

.

The two hedgehogs were floating in a void of soft green, with no platform to land on. But that didn't seem to bother one hedgehog; in fact, he was looking tickled pink at his sidekick.

"…Come on. …Say it."

"Say what, Faker?"

"Well, we're in the fourth Special Stage… You know… The Fourth?"

"…Oh… No."

"Awwww, come on! Just this once. Pleeeeeease?"

"No!"

Sonic's eyes dilated, his ears drooped, and his lip curled. Then he started to whimper.

Shadow sighed. "….Oh, fine. 'Where's that damn fourth Chaos Emerald?'"

"YESssss! He said it! I can die happy now!"

"You are so weird… Why haven't we landed yet?"

It finally dawned on Sonic; "Hey, you're right. We should have… LOOK!"

Pointing straight downward, Sonic showed Shadow that Fang the Sniper was already halfway through the course, by using a power drill he stole from his own world to dig straight through the Stage.

"That cheater!" gasped Shadow. "He's gonna get that Emerald. Come on!"

They had no choice but to boost themselves straight down, in a free-fall that felt like a matter of life or death.

.

**To Be Continued…**

.


	44. HALO HIGHWAY ZONE: Sweet Kisses

**.**

**44 A. "Ride, Sally, Ride!"**

.

**Babylon Tower Zone**

"ZACHARY!"

The queen's voice echoed throughout the endless tower, sending chills down even the coolest of Legionnaires.

Dr, Finitevus couldn't run up the stairs fast enough as he answered his queen's call. He knew where she was: the secret chamber of the Grand Sol Emerald. Winded, he crawled into the room on his last breath.

"yes…your…..highness?" He practically fainted from exhaustion.

Iron Queen Hathor was standing before a large green gem, a gem about as big as the Master Emerald from Sonic's world, only this one was cut in a square shape like the Sol Emeralds. The other big difference was the gaping hole in its center, which was the reasoning behind the queen's outrage.

"Do you see what I see here, Zachary?"

"…uh… The Grand Sol Emerald, mistress?"

"And, do you notice anything else?"

"…the… gaping hole in the center?"

"Yes. The gaping hole in its center… WHY IS THERE A GAPING HOLE IN ITS CENTER?"

Finitevus may as well have been thrown out of the room by that booming voice alone, but he managed to shake off his shock quickly. "M-majesty," he struggled to say as he scrambled to his feet. "I can explain: after your defeat in the Dragon Kingdom, your enemies thought it best to split the emerald's power amongst themselves. While most of the emerald is here in Avian… sorry, Babylon, two other pieces were cut and taken to different kingdoms. There they've been hidden, even by us Legionnaires."

"What other kingdoms?"

"The first piece, I'm sure, lies in the Canus Kingdom. I was very close to finding its location after I've captured the leader of the wolf pack, but…"

"The point, Zachary."

"Bottom line: The wolves have it. I can't prove it, but my gut tells me it's there. As for the other piece, I can only guess that it's somewhere in the kingdom of Acorn."

"Acorn?"

"That's the region you would know as Forrester, if I'm correct."

"Forrester…. Acorn… Both of those names sound familiar… Well, in any case, I can't properly rule over my empire with only half of a Grand Sol Emerald!"

Finitevus grinned his wily grin. "I was just thinking, your majesty, you could tap your psychic powers into that emerald piece right behind you."

"What do you mean? What psychic powers?"

"Ahem… I wasn't sure when it would be the right time to tell you, but I must be frank: you are not exactly who you used to be… What I mean is, your grace, you are currently residing in the body of a psychic cat."

The queen looked down at her white paws curiously. "I… I was wondering why I wasn't feeling quite myself."

"Think of this as a great opportunity! With those powers linked to the emerald, you should be able to locate _and_ recall the missing pieces in no time."

The queen took a deep breath and smiled widely. "Zachary, you twisted genius you!"

"I try," grinned Finitevus as though given a compliment.

"This is brilliant. Yes! Absolutely brilliant! I can have my empire back, _and_ exact revenge on my enemies by turning them all into my slaves! HA-ha! HAHAHAHAHA!"

As much as he wanted to join in her laughter, Finitevus was still feeling the pinch in his winded chest.

Without wasting any more time, the queen stared into her own reflection in the gigantic green gem and began chanting a spell:_ "Grand Sol Emerald, Master of Mobius, show me where your eye is…"_

The emerald began to glitter.

…

**Halo Highway Zone**

While Sonic and Shadow were having their bout with Fang in the Special Stage, the rest of the Freedom fighters stood by and waited. Rotor and Tails were especially interested in the purple hover board that Bark was driving earlier. Amy and Bunnie were still standing guard of the tied up hooligans, Bark and Bean. The rest of the team decided to head off and investigate the floating island.

Sally, meanwhile, was getting nothing but static on her cell phone. After trying five times to call home, she gave up and hung up her phone. "Maybe I'm getting a bad reception up here," she thought out loud, "but I'm not getting any signals, not even from Nicole."

"Welp, we'll jest have t' make the best of it, Sally-girl," shrugged Bunnie.

One member of the scouting party, Antoine, came running back looking quite fearful. "Mon dieu!" he panted. "I… I have never seen anyzing like it!"

"Like what, Ant?" blinked Sally.

"Here, have ze look, princess," he frowned while handing her a pair of binoculars.

Sally followed his pointing upward, and so she peered into the lenses in the direction of the Endless Tower. "…Are those birds circling the tower?"

"I was hoping, but non," gulped the coyote. "Zey are dragons. Real living dragons!"

"Impossible," said a skeptical Bunnie. "Ev'ryone knows dragons don't exist."

"But zees are like ze Badniks," explain Antoine, "only zey have more… how you say, color in their skin?"

Sally adjusted her binocular vision. "…He's right. They look like cyborgs, just like the Dark Legionnaires. We have to investigate."

"What about Frick and Frack over here?" asked Amy, pointing to her captives.

Sally nodded, "You guys keep those two in check and wait for Sonic and Shadow. Someone, come with me and we'll take a better look at these 'dragons.'"

Tails suddenly raised his hand. "Oo! Oo! Me! Can I go with you, Aunt Sally?"

She looked to him and smiled. "Sure, kiddo."

He ran to her while carrying the stolen hover board. "You may need this; it's called Extreme Gear. My friends and I know a trio of birds that use these in their races; my guess is that Bark and Bean stole it from them before they found this place."

"That's OUR stolen goodie, fair and square!" quacked Bean before he was bonked on the head again by Amy's hammer.

"How do you use it?" asked Sally as she put one foot on the gravity-defying board.

"Like a skateboard," smiled Tails. "Ever skate before?"

"No… but I'm a fast learner." She dared put her second foot on the board, and off it soared. "WooooOOOOAH!"

Tails blushed, feeling guilty for not being as helpful as he should have been. As he revved up his tails, he declared, "Here I come, Aunt Sally!" He then took off into the air with a _"Whoosh!"_

.

**- HALO HIGHWAY ZONE-**

**.**

**Selected Team: Sweet Kisses (Sally and Tails)**

.

Halo Highway was a never-ending highway of connected limestone pathways, some with high hills and loop-de-loops. Fallen limestone pillars with lush overgrowth spiraling around them blocked off some paths, while serving as small bumps on the road on others. But that wasn't the worst part; the worst part was the fact that a small team of five Dragoniks were headed their way, ready to shoot flame throwers from their jaws.

Tails flew near Sally, acting as a co-pilot of sorts. "You can gain air by leaning back on the board, and lean forward to go down."

Being this was her first time on Extreme Gear, Sally had to take a crash course on the tutorials; thankfully, Tails was there to guide her and could be tagged into play in case she slowed down.

"I think I've got the hang of this," nodded Sally as she picked up speed.

Sally was hovering just over the pathway, following the lines of Rings that acted as directions on her path. For now, she and Tails were safe and free to fly without the Dragoniks being too close…

**Ring Count: 10… 20… 30**

Sally bumped into a fallen pillar, causing her to lose momentum. "This way," called Tails as he flew to the left. Sally followed, just as the first of the Dragoniks came swooping by.

"How do we lose them?" Sally asked aloud.

Tails suggested, "Lead them to the archways up ahead, and leave the rest to me."

Sally leaned back to gain air, in order to grab three Rings…

**Ring Count: 33**

…but that only made the Dragonik come at her faster; she had to stay low on her path.

"Follow me!" called Tails as he made a sharp right turn down a steep slope. Sally leaned forward to pick up speed on her way down the slope, and caught an updraft that took her spinning toward a higher platform. There, she spun like a corkscrew to break open the Ten-Ring Box that sat on top of a pedestal.

**Ring Count: 43**

"Yes!" she cheered. She then hopped over the pedestal and slid down a vine that connected to a lower pathway. She could tell that the Dragonik was right behind her, because she could feel its fiery breath.

"Sally, you can use the spin attack," advised Tails up ahead.

Sally tried the same corkscrew move she pulled on the item box, but missed her intended target. The Dragonik responded with a fireball, hitting her back.

**Ring Count: 0- 15**

Sally recovered fifteen rings, but had to pick up speed as the Dragonik was preparing to attack again. But just five feet straight ahead was the vine-covered archway that Tails had pointed out earlier.

"Tag me!" called Tails as Sally flew up toward him.

Sally gave Tails a high-five and cheered, "Go for it!"

Tails then flew to the top of the vine-covered archway and waited for the Dragonik to come straight for him. When it unleashed its burning breath, its head ducked low, giving Tails the chance to jump high and land on the cyborg's head. He then grabbed ahold of the back of its neck, and while they struggled in the air, the dragon wasn't paying attention to the fact that Tails was piloting him straight toward the archway. The dragon hit its head, breaking the archway's center, and went crashing to the ground in a pile of rubble.

Control of the field automatically went back to Sally, as she pushed her Extreme Gear forward. "Tails, are you alright?"

"I'm okay," he replied loudly, just as she whizzed by.

The second Dragonik was in sight, breathing more fire than the first one did. Sally was quick to steer right in order to avoid being hit by flames. Then she hopped onto a higher pathway to grab more Rings.

**Ring Count: 35**

The path took her through a loop-de-loop, which ended with a ramp that took her spinning through the air. "Woo-hoo!" she cheered, as she spun through a Ten-Ring Box in mid-air.

**Ring Count: 48**

Sally landed safely on a new pathway, where more overgrowth was taking over the highway. That's where the third Dragonik was waiting; it only needed to breathe fire once, and all of the overgrowth on the path was caught aflame.

"Tag me!" called Tails as he came from behind; with a high-five, he came into play and lifted himself and Sally higher and higher, until they were safe on a platform hovering over the flames.

The second Dragonik was headed their way; Tails waited until it got close enough, then jumped onto its head the same way he jumped onto the first's. They struggled in the air until the dragon thrashed its neck to throw Tails off. Tails landed in a spin onto the lower platform, as the fire continued to grow.

Tails lifted himself back into the air with his propeller tails, but found it easier to use a stairway of pedestals that lead back to the higher ground. He then retired his strategy, waiting for the dragon to come close to attack. Then he jumped back onto its head and started to pilot its neck, this time with a stronger grip.

"Be careful Tails," said a worried Sally nearby.

Tails piloted the dragon to collide into the nearest archway, and it too made a crash landing.

"I'll take it from here," said Sally as control automatically came back to her. She leaned back to gain some air before thrusting forward down a steep slope. This brought her out of the burning path and onto an aqueduct filled with shallow water. When she leaned back, she splashed water instead of going higher, so gaining air was hopeless here. However, she did find a unique use for this water; as the third Dragonik came behind her, she leaned back to splash water into its mouth, causing it to temporarily lose its fire breath. Taking advantage of this, she spun herself over and over again, until the dragon lost interest and flew away.

But she couldn't linger here; a fourth dragon was coming. She made a jump and skid down a long, thick vine like it was a rail toward a new level of the field where there was more overgrowth. To her misfortune, the fourth dragon used the third one's strategy to set the grass and vines on fire.

"Tails, get me out of here!" Sally panicked.

Tails came flying by and grabbed her by the arms, lifting her as he would Sonic straight up and out of harm's way. But now they had to find a spot to land; the nearest pedestal looked like it was ten feet away.

"Hang on, Sally!" While still holding onto her hands, Tails flew forward and the two of them bounded off of a small pedestal before it broke apart. This gave Tails a moment to regain his strength and resumed his flight until another pedestal was found. The second one broke apart as well, but Sally fell straight to the ground, where the fire was gaining.

"Tails?"

"I'm coming!" But as Tails freefell, he landed in a small patch of fire.

**Ring Count: 0- 10**

Tails recovered ten rings, just as he grabbed Sally and hoisted her upward until an updraft carried them safely to a third pedestal. With a final double-jump, Tails finally had time to reach a platform on a level above the fire, saving both himself and Sally.

The Extreme Gear came flying back to Sally as she came back into play. "I'll lead him to the archway."

"Good luck," smiled Tails.

Sally leaned forward and picked up speed so that she could have enough momentum to launch herself over another ramp and into a mid-air Ten-Ring Box.

**Ring Count: 20**

She landed onto the top of a slope that took her downward at great speed; she flew over and around another loop-de-loop and up a high hill, then down the hill and into a spiraling pathway at break-neck speed. All the while, there were Rings on the path to act as directions.

**Ring Count: 45**

The archway was dead ahead, and thanks to her momentum the fourth Dragonik was too far to chase after her. She stopped herself just underneath the archway and called out, "Tails?"

"I'm coming!" called back the small fox, as he tried to keep up after her with his propeller tails. Sally waited until he was close enough to give him a figh-five.

"Here we go," huffed Tails as he mustered up the strength to hoist himself onto the top of the archway. The Dragonik was now heading for him, breathing a stream of fire along the way. He had to time his jup just right, or else he'd lose his rings and his chance at this attack. But luckily, his jumping was perfect, and he landed onto the Dragonik's head.

"Don't let go, Tails!" Sally called out.

Tails had a harder struggle this time; the Dragonik was close to throwing him off its neck twice. But his persistence eventually paid off, as he steered the cyborg beast straight into the archway. The beast slammed through it, knocking itself out as it belly-flopped onto the ground.

A chime rang out, signaling that the challenge was over. "I'll take it from here," smiled Sally as she steered her Extreme Gear toward the center of the stage, where the newly activated Goal was waiting for her to cross through.

.

**-ACT CLEARED!-**

**Ring Count: 45**

**Power Points: 0**

**Ranking: B+ (Good!)**

"Tails, you were amazing!" cheered Sally as she rested her paws on the little fox's shoulders. Then without warning, she gave him three soft kisses- one on each cheek, and the third on his nose.

Tails giggled and blushed at the same time. "That was a funny kiss... I like it!"

.

After a moment to gain their breath, Tails and Sally looked up at the creature flying overhead. "Uh-oh," frowned Tails, "there were five of them!"

This fifth dragon, one much smaller than the previous four, was dive-bombing straight for them. But she was no match for them; all Tails and Sally had to do was step to the side, and the small creature made quite a humiliating belly-flop onto the ground.

"Uuughh…." Moaned the dazed cyborg lizard.

Sally bravely approached the creature to inspect it, with Tails right behind her.

"Be careful, Sally. It could still attack."

"She looks so young," mused Sally. "…And she really_ is_ a dragon; a Komodo dragon."

"Is that you, Ma?" cooed the young Dragonik as her eyes fluttered open. She looked up at Tails and Sally and gave out a small yelp.

"It's okay," smiled Sally with her hand stretched out in friendship. "We won't hurt you, whoever you are."

The female reptile sat up on her hind claws and replied, "My… my name is Dulcy. I'm a Dragonik, sent by the Dark Legion to patrol and guard the island."

"Then she _is_ a threat," gasped Tails. He then ran in front of Sally to shield her from the green and silver beast. "Get back, Aunt Sally!"

"Wait, wait!" frowned Dulcy. "…I broke my nose ring when I crashed. See?" She then pointed to her nose, now ring-free. "The ring was part of the brain chip that forced me to do whatever the Legion said, but now that it's broken, I can think for myself now. So really, I should be thanking you two."

Sally smiled to her little partner, "See, Tails? I knew there was more to her than met the eye."

The young Komodo dragon looked down at the fox and pleaded, "Could you please free the rest of my kind? We're all really nice, once we're cut off from our masters."

Tails replied with a nod, "With pleasure."

"Aww, that's sweet," came a female voice nearby. "Now can I have my board back, please?"

The trio paused and turned around to face the purple creature staring them down intently.

.

Not too far from where Tails and company were, a Warp Ring opened up and spat out two hedgehogs, Sonic and Shadow. They tried to drag Fang the Sniper with them, but he had slipped through their grasp and jumped back into the Special Zone. Fortunately, the hedgehogs now had the green Chaos Emerald for a prize.

"Damn it all," cursed Shadow softly. "I almost had him that time."

Sonic stood up and dusted off his arms. "Let's just be glad we got the emerald before he did; he darn near tore a whole wall into that Stage!"

"If he's getting that desperate, then we'll have to move faster to more Special Stages…" Shadow paused to look around at the green fields that lay before him and Sonic. "Are we still in Avian?"

"Wow," replied Sonic, "we must've jumped ahead of everybody else. This almost looks like a garden."

"Wrong, it's THE Garden," came a familiar male voice.

Sonic and Shadow looked around to see where the voice came from, but were soon shadowed by a figure descending from above. They moved out of the way for two large birds, one green and the other grey, as they rode on hover boards that were color-coded to suit their feathers.

With a whistle, a third bird came swooping in; a purple female dressed in white and now riding the purple hover board that Sally used earlier. She landed right next to her partners in crime, staring down their hedgehog rivals.

"Well lookie here, Wave," grinned Jet the Hawk. "If it isn't our friends Shadow and Sonic the Hedgehog."

Storm the Albatross clasped his fists together, readying himself for a fight.

"I'll be," smiled the purple swallow. "It _is_ a small Mobius after all."

.

**To Be Continued…**

.


	45. MINI BOSS BATTLE: Sonic vs Babylon Rogue

**.**

**45 A. "Ready, Jet, GO!"**

.

Neither Sonic nor Shadow could believe their eyes. Earlier, they ran into two rogues from their own world, and now the Babylon Rogues were here in this alternate reality. For a few seconds, the two teams stared each other down intently, each wondering what the other was doing here in this ancient kingdom in the sky. Then of course, Sonic had to break the tension.

"Hey look, Shadow, it's our old friends the Babylon Rogues: Storm the Albatross, Wave the Swallow, and my personal favorite: Jet the Parrot!" 

The green bird's feathers ruffled in anger. "I'm a HAWK, you idiot!"

"And yet," smirked Sonic to Shadow as his hand mimicked a talking bird, "he squawks."

Unamused, the black hedgehog asked the bird trio, "What are you three doing here?"

"I was just about to ask _you_ the same thing," stated Jet.

Wave, the female swallow, explained; "We were chasing after those bumbling thieves who stole one of our hovercrafts- that bear and the stupid duckling."

"Ah!" chimed Sonic. "Now it all makes perfect sense. We've caught Bean and Bark already, so you guys can just fly on back home."

Jet gave him a wicked grin. "I've got news for you, Sonic the Hedgehog: we _are _home."

Sonic and Shadow gasped in surprised while Wave pulled out a green rectangular gem from her pant pocket. "And it's all thanks to this baby."

Shadow's quills ruffled in anger. "That's a Sol Emerald!"

"Call it whatever you want," shrugged Jet, "it's ours now."

"Yeah," added the gruff albatross behind him. "Finders, keepers!"

Sonic growled, "We've been trying to find those things to save this planet. You guys better give it here, or me n' my partner in crime-fighting here will take it from you."

As he spoke, Sonic rested his hand on Shadow's shoulder, making the black hedgehog cringe. "You're touching me…. Stop it."

Sonic's hand recoiled. "Sorry."

"Ooh," mused the green bird, "is that a challenge I here? Tell you what, Sonic the Hedgehog, how 'bout we race for it?"

Sonic palmed a fist, his grin bearing teeth enthusiastically. "You're on, Jetlag!"

.

**- MINI-BOSS BATTLE: vs. BABYLON ROGUES -**

**Song: "Free," theme from "Sonic Free Riders," instrumental/rock**

With their hovercrafts all accounted for now, the Rogues flew well ahead of Sonic, who chose to run along the limestone pavement on the ever twisting and turning highway. With the Dragoniks gone for now, the highway remained pristine and blanketed with lush overgrowth; plus, cascading rivers flowing from the battered aqueducts added to the majesty of the highway. But there was just no time to stop and take in the beauty- a Sol Emerald was at stake.

"Catch us if you can, Sonic the Hedgehog!" teased Jet as he took the lead.

Sonic ran down a half-pipe full of ring chains, and the rings would give him the boost power he needed to keep up with the Rogues. But to get them, he would have to shift either far left, far right, or down the middle while avoiding oncoming attacks from his opponents. And speaking of which, the first of his three opponents was gearing up for battle.

First on Sonic's chopping block was Storm, the heavyweight of the group. The big gray albatross wound up his fist and thrust it at Sonic, releasing a wave of wind that knocked Sonic back by two feet. That was just a warning; his real attack would come in a much heavier blow of wind. Sonic dipped down a steep slope, crossing through a small stream that made a grand splash, before being able to pick up the pace and catch up to Storm.

When the blue hedgehog was inches away, Storm tried to wind up his fist again, but now Sonic could use his homing attack to throw himself in ball form straight at the big bird. His strategy worked, and Storm was knocked back for a moment. But he was quick to recover and threw out a punch with a blue wave of air. Sonic jumped out of the way before it could strike him, and he pushed forward.

He then waited for Storm to wind up his fist again, and used the homing attack to slam into Storm once, twice, three time, four. That was enough to make Storm bounce off the half-pipe and out of the race. But as he flew off, he threw the green gem in his hands to Wave, who was flying ahead of him.

Now it was Wave's turn to kick Sonic off the racetrack. Her strategy was to do a headstand on her board, then purposely spin it around until she formed a small tornado that would prove dangerous to the hedgehog. Her attack was easy to dodge; however, while spinning like this she was temporarily invincible, so he couldn't attack her at the time.

The half-pipe brought the racers into a greener area of the highway, with vines posing as archways over the racetrack. Sonic took a moment to collect a chain of rings before boosting forward. Wave was gaining speed due to his lack of attacks, however.

Sonic waited until Wave performed her "tornado twist," and decided it was best to just run right beside her. She had no control over where the tornado would go when she released it, and it missed Sonic. This gave him the perfect opportunity to jump into a ball and home his attack onto her- one, two, three hits. Wave recoiled and pushed forward, through a waterfall that poured from an aqueduct above the racetrack. The water didn't slow anyone down; if anything, it just made them cleaner and more sparkly.

Sonic veered to the far right to pick up more rings before boosting again, just as Wave was about to do her special attack again. The tornado was kicked in his direction, but he was quick enough to veer left to avoid it. Now with his opponent vulnerable, Sonic boost forward and homed in on Wave. With two hits, she was knocked out of the competition. As she flew upward, she tossed the green gem to Jet, who had been in the lead this whole time.

Jet, of course, came to this race armed with his own special weapon: a pair of fans made from the molted feathers of his own wings. One swish from them, and a long blue stream of wind power came at Sonic; he had to jump out of the way to avoid the strikes. But the trick to these air streams was that they came in both vertical and horizontal positions; Sonic had to think fast whenever Jet would wave his fans.

The two rivals raced down a downward spiral of limestone pavement, until it brought them to a jungle-like area where the overgrowth made the limestone all but invisible. But they were still on a half-pipe, as indicated by the shape in which the vines and weeds gave off.

Jet waved his fans, and a vertical flash of blue came at Sonic; he quick-stepped to the left to avoid it. Jet waved his fans again, and made Sonic quick-step to the right. Then once more, a quick-step to the far left let Sonic dodge a third wind attack. He then noticed that the more Jet performed his trick, the slower his hover-board would get. The green hawk would have to decide what was more important: going faster in hopes to outrun the hedgehog, or risk everything with these attacks that may defeat him then and there.

Sonic took his focus off of Jet just for a moment, to absorb a long line of rings on the track that would grant him maximum boost power. Though Jet was now out of reach, Sonic's strategy was about to come into play.

He boosted forward, even as Jet's streamlines came at him horizontally, threatening him lest he jump out of the way. The hedgehog kept pushing forward, closer and closer, even as Jet let loose two more horizontal wind streams. Jet waved his fans again, only this time it was a vertical stream that missed Sonic by several feet. He was getting reckless, just as Sonic predicted he would. All the hedgehog had to do now was wait for Jet to lower his guard to boost forward, then he had him. When the moment came, Sonic used his homing attack: one, two, three, four, five hits in a row…

Jet was stunned, but not yet down for the count. As he zipped past his rival he teased, "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, and I need car insurance! Hahahahahaha!"

Sonic cracked a wily smile. "I'm Jet the Hawk, and I'm about to eat dirt!"

The blue hedgehog took a leap of faith, landing just behind Jet on his hovercraft. With their bodyweights throwing the board off kilter, it began to spin out of control. Jet lost his balance and went soaring for several feet, and just as Sonic said he would, he landed head first into a pile of dirt and grass.

.

**- MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED! -**

.

Jet was still grounded when he found himself staring up at Sonic, standing on the hawk's own hover-board, while triumphantly holding the green Sol Emerald.

"Nice try, Jet, but feet beat wings every time.

Jet weakly pulled himself up off the floor while spitting out dirt and grass. "Ugh… No fair… I demand a rematch!"

Meanwhile, Shadow came running to the racetrack's end, with the defeated Storm and Wave in tow. Shadow stood by Sonic's side, if only to examine the green gem's condition.

Sonic hopped off the board and smiled at Jet, "No way, feather boy; I beat you fair and square. Right, Shadow?" Not being able to help himself, Sonic leaned his hand on Shadow's shoulder as he did earlier.

Shadow tensed up. "Again!"

"Gah!" yipped Sonic as he recoiled his hand once more. "I'm sorry!"

"He's right though, you guys lost and therefore we get the emerald."

Storm cracked his knuckles. "You and what army?"

"How about this army?" came Sally's voice from above.

The birds and hedgehogs looked straight up at the creature that was now blocking the sun from them; it was a forest green lizard that stood almost as tall as a full grown crocodile. Most of her body was organic, but her whole backside was metallic, with bionic bat-like wings with small jet engines places on their finger ends. Plus, she was sporting a pink mohawk, a black tank top, and black shoes with tiny white wings on their sides. Also, the tip of her long tail was tipped with a metal pike to resemble a true dragon's tail fork.

The young Dragonik was carrying Sally in one arm, Tails in the other. She hovered just above the ground to let go of her new friends, but then when she cut off her engines, she landed quite hard on her rear.

"Oof!" went Dulcy. "I still need to work on my landing."

"Get back!" gasped Wave, as she and her feathered friends hid behind the hedgehogs. "That's a Dragonik! They work for the Iron Queen!"

"Wait, wait!" huffed Dulcy as she desperately waved her arms. "I can explain myself; my people were captured and brainwashed by this new queen. All we have to do is unplug the dark rings on their noses, and they should go back to normal."

Sally and Tails joined up with Sonic and Shadow while Dulcy told her side of the story.

"What happened to you two?" asked Sonic worriedly.

Tails explained, "We ran into Dulcy not far from here. Sally was apparently using Wave's Extreme Gear, and when she got the chance she stole it back and flew off before we could even ask how she got here. So we followed her."

"How did you guys get all the way out here?" asked Sally.

Shadow replied, "We came through a Special Zone that brought us straight to the Rogues. They had the green Sol Emerald, and we've just taken it back."

"Yep," smiled Sonic as he held up one Chaos Emerald in his left hand, and the green Sol Emerald in his right. "That's two for two, baby!"

"Sonic, be careful!" gasped Tails. "We don't yet know what would happen if the Chaos and Sol gems were to activate together."

"Um, we've got bigger problems right now," interrupted Jet; "like, saving our kingdom from the queen and her Dragoniks?"

The heroes looked at the Rogues with puzzled faces. Sonic then raised an eyebrow to Jet and asked him, "You birdbrains wanna tell us all your side to the story now so we can all move on?"

The Rogues looked to each other with shrugs, then finally Wave stepped forward. "Come with us. You have to see this for yourselves."

.

Beyond the endless highway rested a small but magnificent courtyard with a large building that mirrored that of the Grecian Acropolis, almost to a tee. And like most buildings in the kingdom, it was a shadow of its former self covered almost completely in vines and overgrowth. The Rogues led Sonic and friends into the building, only to find that there was hardly anything inside besides scattered books, patches of sunlight beaming in from small holes in the ceiling, and a few overturned stone tables.

"What is this place?" mused Tails as he walked by Dulcy.

Wave replied, "We believe this was a study hall built by our ancestors many years ago, before the fall of Babylon."

"Wow," awed Sonic.

Jet added, "We've known for a while now that our ancestors came from another world; some of them settled in yours and that's how we came to be. But we know very little about our history and our culture…"

"Until," Wave continued, "we happened upon that green gem you now have. Someone over in this world must have tossed it into ours just before the Dark Legion took over the sky city. We were watching the stars from our hangout, when we saw it coming down like a falling star. It landed just over the mountains, but by the time we got to it, Bean and Bark were there too. There was a fight, then suddenly a vortex opened up, and…"

"And," nodded Sonic, "the rest is history."

"So," said Sally while in deep thought, "the Sol Emerald was only taken out of Avian for a little while, which means whoever discarded it may still be here."

"It had to be one of my people," replied Dulcy. The Rogues gave her an ugly look as she explained, "We dragons were in charge of the kingdom's safety for years now. But the Iron Queen came out of nowhere and started to round us all up. One of my elders must have sent it through the wormhole to make sure the queen couldn't get to it."

"That's a cute story," said a feather-ruffled Jet, "but we still have our reasons not to trust you."

Wave motioned to the runes painted and sketched all over the walls and tables. "We have plenty of proof in this room alone that we Rogues are the true heirs of this kingdom. These markings all over the place are clearly Babylonian."

"But," argued Dulcy, "we dragons have been living here too, so we're meant to co-exist together."

"Your wings are fake!" Jet snapped back. "You're just lizards who got a metal upgrade; we birds are the true flyers and therefore this place is ours!"

The dragon and the birds stared each other down intently for a few seconds, making the rest of the adventurers feeling awkward.

"Look," smiled Sonic peacefully, "we don't have to settle this right now. If you Rogues want this kingdom so badly, then you should join us in defeating the queen."

Jet scratched under his beak where a chin would be. "…If we agree to this, will you give us back our Sol Emerald?"

Dulcy couldn't help but giggle. "Ha ha hahahaha! …Silly birdies. Why settle for just that Sol Emerald, when we've got an even bigger one around here?"

Everyone gasped in shock at this statement.

"You mean," beamed Storm excitedly, "there's a huge treasure around here?"

"Oh, it's a treasure alright," gloated Dulcy, "but first you'll have to get it out of the Iron Queen's hands."

"I'm in!" cheered Storm, thrusting his fist in the air.

"Count me in," added the more relaxed Wave. "…Jet? What do you say? Could be a lot of fun…"

Jet's blue eyes fell on Sonic's blue; for once, he looked dead serious. "…This is about far more than just a treasure hunt. This is about reclaiming my home- my kingdom- and my heritage… That alone gives me reason to fight."

Sonic nodded with a smile. "So, you're in."

"I'm in… But I'll fight the queen on my own terms. Wave, Storm, we're out of here."

The birds jumped onto their hovercrafts, much to the disappointment of Sonic and company. "Jet, wait!" pleaded Sonic. "We'd be better off if we all stick together!"

The green hawk replied sternly, "You do what you want, Sonic the Hedgehogs. But leave the fate of Avian to us Rogues! Take off!"

The birds then leaned back on their boards and shot out through the ceiling holes as their exit from the premises. The others watched with a sense of uncertainty in their hearts.

.

What the heroes didn't know, was that the treasure Dulcy spoke of was currently being used to spy on them from deep within the highest tower of the city. The Iron Queen (Hathor) waved her arms around to hold the image steady in her half-full gem. Her focus was mostly on the three Mobian birds that were flying off into the air on what appeared to be surfboards. Her golden eyes glistened in wonder.

"Such exquisite technology," she purred. "I've not seen such clever birds since… Ah, yes… That green one. What was her name? …_Techno_…"

.

**To Be Continued…**

.


End file.
